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To the Muslims we have only one very simple thing to say: Understand
and fulfil the responsibilities and duties that fall upon you by virtue of your being
Muslims. You cannot get away with merely affirming that you are Muslims and that you have
accepted God as your only God and Islam as your religion. Rather, as soon as you
acknowledge Allah as your only Lord and His guidance as your way of life, you take upon
yourselves certain obligations and duties. These obligations you must always remain
conscious of, these duties you must always endeavour to discharge. If you evade them, you
shall not escape the evil consequences of your conduct in this world or in the Hereafter.
What are these duties? They are not merely confined to the affirmation
of faith in Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers, and the Day of
Judgement. Nor
are they confined to performing the Prayers, observing the Fasts, going on the Pilgrimage,
and paying the Alms. Nor are these duties exhausted by observing the injunctions of Islam
relating to marriage, divorce and inheritance. Over and above all these duties, there is
one which is the most important: that your lives bear witness to the Truth that you have
been given by God before all mankind, the Truth which you believe to be true.
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The Qur'an clearly states that witnessing to the Truth in a manner that
would leave mankind with no justifiable ground to deny it is the only purpose behind
constituting you as a distinct Ummah (community), named Muslims.
And thus We have made you
a community of the middle way, so that you may be witnesses [to the Truth] before all
mankind, and the Messenger may be witness [to it] before you
(al-Baqarah 2: 143).
This mission is the sole objective for which your Ummah has been
brought into being, it is the raison d'etre of its existence as a society of human beings.
Unless you fulfil it you are squandering your life. For this is no ordinary duty; it is a
duty enjoined on you by God. It is a Divine command and a Divine call:
O believers, be ever
steadfast in standing up, for the sake of God, bearing witness to justice
(al-Ma'idah 5: 8) .
It is not a mere trifle but an emphatic and grave mandate, for Allah
also says:
And who is a greater
wrong-doer than he who suppresses a witness entrusted to him by God
(al-Baqarah 2: 140).
You have been warned of the consequences of evading this duty. Look at
the history of the people of Israel. They too were appointed to stand in the witness-box;
but sometimes they suppressed the Truth, and sometimes they witnessed against it. By their
conduct, they, in fact, became witnesses to falsehood rather than witnesses to the Truth.
The consequence was that God forsook them and a curse fell upon them.
And so, humiliation and
powerlessness afflicted them, and they earned God's anger
(al-Baqarah 2: 61).
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What does this duty of witness imply? Consider it carefully: You
have been given Divine guidance, you have been shown the Truth. You must, therefore,
establish by your testimony and witness its authenticity and truthfulness before all
mankind. This is a testimony that will make the authenticity and truthfulness of Divine
guidance self-evident, for all to see, and a witness that will make it clear and
indisputable for all people.
For this very purpose all the Messengers were sent to the world; this
was their primary duty. After them, their followers were entrusted with the same duty. And
now the Muslim Ummah, as the successor to the Last Prophet, blessings and peace be on him,
is charged with this very mission, just as he was charged with it during his lifetime.
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What is the importance of this witness? You will know its importance
only when you understand that man has been made accountable for his conduct and will be
rewarded and punished in the Hereafter under the Divine Law which rests entirely on this
witness. God is All-wise, All-merciful, and All just. His mercy, justice and wisdom are
not such that He should punish people for living against His will while they had no
knowledge of it, that He should take people to task for deviating from the right path of
which they were ignorant, that He should hold people accountable for things of which they
were unaware. [1] It was as a
provision against this that the first man He created was a Messenger, and that after him
many more were sent from time to time. [2] They were all to be witnesses
to mankind, to make it understand and remember the will of God. They were all to teach
human beings the proper way of conducting their lives, the code of behaviour that they
should adopt to win God's favour, the acts that they should perform, the acts that they
should avoid, and the things for which they will be brought to account. [3]
This witness was given by Allah's Messengers so that the people may not
be in a position to say to God: How can we be punished for things of which we were not
warned? The Qur'an says:
[We sent] all Messengers
as heralds of glad tidings and as warners, so that men may not have any argument against
God, after [the coming of] these Messengers; God is indeed All-mighty, All-wise
(al-Nisa' 4: 165).
In this manner God made His Messengers bear the crucial responsibility
for guiding man on His behalf. They were thus charged with a very delicate and grave
responsibility: if they bore witness to the Truth properly, the people would be
accountable for their own actions, but if they failed in their duty, they themselves would
be called to account for their people going astray. In other words, unless the Messengers
made people responsible for their conduct by giving them conclusive and indisputable
testimony to the Truth, the people would hold the Messengers responsible for their own
misdeeds, saying: 'The knowledge that God gave you, that you did not communicate to us;
the way of life that He showed you, that you did not show US.' [4] That is why all
the Messengers always remained acutely conscious of the burden of this responsibility, and
that is why they endeavoured so hard to bear witness before the people to the Truth
entrusted to them. [5]
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All those who were led by the Messengers to the knowledge of the Truth
and Divine guidance were formed into a community, an Ummah. Every Ummah was charged with
the same mission as the Messengers of witnessing to the Truth. As successors to the
Messengers, every Ummah has the same crucial role and responsibility as they had. Thus, if
an Ummah properly fulfils its duty of witnessing to the Truth and yet the people do not
pay heed, it will be rewarded and the people will be brought to account. However, if the
Ummah neglects its duty, or if it gives false witness, it will deserve to be punished more
severely than the people. The Ummah shall be accountable not only for its own misdeeds,
but also for the misdeeds of those who went astray or turned to error and wickedness
because the testimony given to them by the Ummah was misleading or false.
This, brothers, is the nature and logic of that grave and crucial duty
which lies upon me, you and all those who consider themselves part of the Muslim
Ummah, or
those who have become sufficiently aware of God's Book and the guidance brought by His
Messengers.
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Notes by Khurram Murad
The Qur'an has explained in considerable detail the law under which
man's accountability on the Day of Judgement depends upon the witness to the Truth
rendered by its bearers before him. It is important to understand what the Qur'an says in
this regard.
Firstly, why has man been placed on earth? So that he may use his full
and enormous potential to conduct himself in that right manner which will fulfil the
meaning in his life.
And He it is who has
created the heavens and the earth in six days, and His throne was upon the waters, so that
He might test you which of you is best in conduct
(Hud 11: 7).
He who has created death
and life, so that He might test you, which of you is best in conduct
(al-Mulk 67: 2).
We have made all that is
on earth an adornment for it, and so that we might test which of them is best in conduct
(al-Kahf 18: 7).
Secondly, what is the meaning and purpose of man's life? That he lives
as his Creator desires him to live: in surrender and worship to Him alone. Not because God
in any way needs his worship, but because man needs to worship only his Creator and none
else so that his own nature is not perverted and corrupted, and so that he does not live
in opposition to its intrinsic character. Also, only by so living, will his earthly life
be set onthe right path and will prosper, bringing him peace and happiness (all of which
the Qur'an calls falah).
And I have not created
Jinn and mankind except to serve and worship Me. I desire of them no provision, neither do
I desire that they should feed Me
(al-Dhariyat 51: 5S7).
Thirdly, and consequently, man's earthly life must be judged. He must
give an account of his conduct, and he must face the consequences of how he lives his
life. Obviously, to be judged fairly, this judgement must be made only after his earthly
life has come to an end, and only by the One who gave this life, who knows everything, and
who is All-powerful and Alljust. Only then can he be judged fairly, and duly rewarded and
punished, for everything from the most hidden innermost thoughts to the consequences of
his conduct that extend far and wide, and beyond life for generations to come. The judge,
in other words, must be the King and Master of the Day of Judgement.
What, did you think that
We created you in mere idle play, and that you would not be returned to Us? But, high
exalted is God, the King, the True! There is no god but He, the Lord of the Noble Throne
(al-Mu'minun 23: 115-16).
And We have not created
the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in mere idle play; We have not
created them but with truth [meaning and purpose], but most of them understand it not
(al-Dukhan 44: 38-9).
Or, do those who commit
evil deeds think that We shall place them on an equal footing with those who believe and
do righteous deeds, both in their life and their death? How bad is their judgement! God
has created the heavens and the earth with truth [meaning and purpose], so that every
human being shall be recompensed for what he has earned, and they shall not be wronged (al-Jathiyah 45: 21-2). Every
human being shall taste death; and you shall surely be paid in full your wages on the Day
of Resurrection; whosoever [then] is saved from the Fire and admitted to Paradise, he
indeed wins the triumph; worldly life is nothing but enjoyment of delusion (Al
'Imran 3: 185).
And We shall set up just
balance-scales on Resurrectlon Day, and no human being shall be wronged anything; even if
it be the weight of a mustard-seed, We shall bring it forth, and sufficient are We as
reckoners (al-Anbiya' 21: 47).
He knows the [most]
stealthy glance, and what the hearts conceal
(Ghafir 40: 19).
Fourthly, therefore, man's ultimate destiny lies in the life to come,
in the Akhirah. Equally important is the fact that the account of the Akhirah as given in
the Qur'an clearly demonstrates, and repeatedly emphasizes, that one will be judged there
by due process of justice, fairly and equitably, mercifully and kindly. Also, no one will
be wronged or dealt with unjustly even by an atom's weight.
And vie with one another,
hastening to forgiveness from your Lord, and to Paradise as vast as the heavens and the
earth, which has been prepared for the God-conscious (Al
'Imran 3: 133).
O my people, surely this
worldly life is but a brief enjoyment; surely the world to come is the home abiding.
[There] whosoever does an evil deed shall be recompensed only with the like of it, but
whosoever does righteous deeds be it man or woman, and is a believer those shall enter
Paradise, therein provided [with blessings] beyond all reckoning
(Ghafir 40: 39-40).
Surely God shall not
wrong so much as an atoms weight (al-Nisa'
4: 40).
Fifthly, in all fairness, therefore, man must be made aware of how he
should live his earthly life. In other words, he should know of his Creator and Lord, of
what He desires of him, of how He wants him to worship Him and surrender to Him. Unless
man knows all this, he cannot be held fully responsible and accountable if he pursues a
wrong way of life. Such knowledge has been given to him in his own nature, in the universe
around him, and in the revelations sent through God's Messengers.
And when your Lord
brought forth from the Children of Adam, from their loins, their descendants, and made
them bear witness about themselves: Am I not your Lord? They said: Yes, we bear witness
lest you say on the Day of Resurrection: We were unaware of this. Or lest you say: Our
fathers ascribed partners [to God] aforetime, and we were but their descendants after
them. What, wilt Thou then destroy us for the deeds of the vain-doers?
(al-A'raf 7: 172-3) .
How many a sign there is
in the heavens and on earth which they pass by [unthinkingly], and on which they turn
their backs! And most of them do not believe in God, but they ascribe partners [to Him]
(Yusuf 12: 105-6).
[And God will say:] O community
of jinn and men, did not Messengers come unto you from among you, who conveyed unto you My
revelations and warned you of the meeting of this your day? . . . That is because your
Lord would not destroy communities unjustly, while their people are ignorant
(al-An'am 6: 130-1).
Sixthly, for a number of reasons, all of which it is not possible to
discuss here, only God, and no one else, can provide man with the knowledge of the right
guidance. Firstly and primarily, because only He can tell how man should relate to Him.
Secondly, because only the Creator can tell him how he should relate to himself, to other
human beings, and to all other things in the universe. And, finally, because only God can
give man a guidance which will be applicable universally, and for all times.
Say: Is there any of
those you associate [with God] who guides to the Truth? Say: Only God guides to the Truth.
Thus, then, He who guides to the Truth deserves more to be followed or He who cannot guide
unless he be guided? What ails you? How judge you? And most of them follow nothing but
conjecture, and conjecture can never take the place of truth (Yunus 10: 35-6).
Say: Shall we call, apart
from God, on that which neither benefits us nor harms us, and shall we be turned back on
our heels after God has guided us aright? Like one lured to bewilderment on the earth by
Satans, and he has friends who call him to guidance: Come to us! Say: God's guidance is
the only [true] guidance; and so we have been commanded to surrender to the Lord of all
the worlds (al-An'am 6: 71).
This, then, is the Divine law for the judgement of man. Central to this
law is that the Truth be witnessed before mankind fully, faithfully, and by all possible
means. For without guidance from God, man's earthly life, both individual and collective,
will result in misery and suffering. But, more importantly, without that guidance man will
never be in a position to make his ultimate destiny glorious.
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Adam, according to the Qur'an, is neither a mythical figure nor merely
a symbol of the human race. He is mentioned, as a Messenger, along with Noah and Abraham.
God chose Adam, and Noah,
and the House of Abraham and the House of Imran above all mankind, offspring of one
another (Al 'Imran 3: 33).
He was given knowledge
and guidance (2: 31-5); when he erred and his weaknesses became known to him, God
turned towards him in mercy, exhalted him, guided him and promised him and his progeny
continuing guidance (20: 115-27, 2: 3S9).
Adam disobeyed his Lord,
and so he erred. Thereafter his Lord chose him, and so He turned towards him, and He
guided him. He said: Get you down, both of you, from here, each of you an enemy to each.
Nonetheless, there shall most certainly come unto you guidance from Me; and he who follows
My guidance shall not go astray, neither shall he be unprosperous. But whosoever turns
away from My remembrance, his shall be a life of narrow scope; and on the Resurrection
Day, We shall raise him blind. He shall say: O my Lord, why has Thou raised me blind,
whereas I was given sight? God shall say: Thus it is. Our revelations came unto you and
you did forget them; and so today you are forgotten (Ta Ha 20: 121-6).
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It was in fulfilment of this promise to mankind that, firstly, God sent
His Messengers with His guidance, with the Truth, to every people some of them the Qur'an
has named, some it has not.
We have sent you [O
Prophet] with the Truth, as a bearer of glad tidings and a warner; not a community there
is, but there has passed away in it a warner
(al-Fatir 35: 24).
We have revealed to you
[O Prophet] as We revealed to Noah and the Prophets after him, as We revealed to Abraham
and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and their descendants, including Jesus and Job and Jonah
and Aaron and Solomon, and as We gave to David Psalms; and Messengers We have mentioned to
you before, and Messengers We have not mentioned to you; and as God spoke His word unto
Moses. Messengers [We sent] as heralds of glad tidings and as warners, so that mankind
might have no excuse before God after [the coming of] the Messengers; and God is
All-mighty, All-wise (al-Nisa' 4: 163-5).
Secondly, He charged all of them with this mission and duty: to
communicate the Truth, to invite people to worship the One God alone and surrender to Him
as their only Lord by word and example. In other words, to witness to the Truth before men
and women to whom they were sent, so that they could have no plea to make before God, so
that they could be questioned as to how they lived their lives, so that those who lived by
the Truth could be rewarded, and those who did not could be punished.
And We never sent, before
you, any Messenger except that We revealed to him: There is no god but I; so serve and
worship only Me (al-Anbiya' 21: 25).
And this was Our
argument, which We gave to Abraham as against his people. We raise up in degrees whom We
will; surely your Lord is All-wise, All-knowing. And We gave Isaac and Jacob, and both of
them We guided and Noah We guided beforeand [We guided] of his descendants: David, and
Solomon, and Job, and Joseph, and Moses, and Aaron and thes do We reward the doers of good
Zachariah and John, and Jesus, and Elijah, each was of the righteous; and Ishmael, and
Elisha, and Jonah, and Lut. And every one of them did We favour above other people. And
[likewise We guided] some of their forefathers and their descendants and their brethren.
And We elected them, and guided them onto the straight path. That is God's guidance; He
guides by it whomsoever He wills of His servants. And had they ascribed partners [to God],
in vain would have been all that they ever did. Those are they to whom We gave the Book,
and the Judgement, and the Prophethood. So if these deny this [Our guidance], We have
entrusted it to people who do not disbelieve in it. Those [Messengers] are they whom God
has guided; follow, then, their guidance. Say: I ask of you no reward for it; it is but a
reminder unto all mankind (al-An'am 6:
83-90).
Indeed We sent forth Our
Messengers with clear revelations and We sent down with them the Book and the Balance, so
that mankind may establish justice
(al-Hadld 57: 25).
The Prophet Muhammad was the last of them. He did not bring any new
Truth, message or guidance; he came with the same Truth, and was entrusted with the same
mission and duty as were all the Messengers preceding him. This duty and mission has been
expressed in a number of ways: warning (indhar), bringing glad tidings (tabshir), inviting
and calling (da'wah), communicating (tabligh), reminding (dhikr), teaching (ta'lim),
conveying and propagating (tilawah), enjoining and promoting what is good and right and
forbidding and eradicating what is wrong and bad (amr bi 'l-ma'ruf wa nahl 'ani
'l-munkar), establishing Din (iqamah), establishing justice (qist), making the Divine
guidance and Din prevail (izhar), or witnessing (shahadah). All these expressions pertain
to the same mission, though from different perspectives and with different emphases.
O Prophet, We have sent
you as a witness [to the Truth], and as a herald of glad tidings and a warner, and as one
who calls to God, by His leave, and as a light-giving lamp
(al-Ahzab 33: 45-6).
O Messenger, deliver that
which has been sent down to you from your Lord; for if you do not, you will not have
delivered His message (al-Ma'idah 5: 67).
Even so We have sent
among you, of yourselves, a Messenger, to convey unto you Our revelations, and to purify
you, and to teach you the Book and wisdom, and to teach you that which you knew not
(al-Baqarah 2: 151).
It is He who has sent
forth His Messenger with the guidance and the way of the Truth, so that he makes it
prevail over all other ways of life; and God suffices as a witness
(al-Fath 48: 28; also 9: 33, 61: 9).
. . . and those [among
the followers of Moses] who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find
written down with them in the Torah and the Gospel, who will enjoin upon them the right
and forbid them the wrong, and make lawful to them the good things and make unlawful for
them the bad things, and lift from them their burdens and the shackles that were upon
them. Those who believe in him and succour him and help him, and follow the light that has
been sent down with him it is they who are the prosperous
(al-A'raf 7: 157).
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The witness given by the Messengers, and by all those who are charged
with the same duty, is the basis for man's accountability in the Akhirah, and his
consequent reward and punishment. The Truth is witnessed before them so that they are left
with no argument against God; they will be charged because they received it: this position
has been stated in the Qur'an in many places and from many different perspectives, as we
have seen before.
Whoever follows the right path,
follows it for his own good, and whoever goes astray, goes astray to his own loss; and no
bearer of burdens shall bear the burden of another. We never chastise, until we have sent
forth a Messenger (al-Isra' 17:15)
So, [on Judgement Day,]
We shall most certainly call to account all those unto whom [Our] message was sent, and We
shall most certainly call to account the Message-bearers and thereupon We shall most
certainly relate unto them [their account] with knowledge, for We were never absent (al-A'raf 7: 6-7). And
when We took a pledge from all the Prophets from you [O Prophet], and from Noah, and
Abraham, and Moses, and Jesus, the son of Mary We took from them a solemn pledge, so that
He might question the truthful concerning their truthfulness, and He has prepared for
those who deny the truth a painful punishment
(al-Ahzab 33: 7-8).
The day when God shall
assemble all the Messengers, and say: What answer were you given? They shall say: We have
no knowledge; Thou art the Knower of the things unseen
(al-Ma'idah 5: 109).
[And God will say:] O
community of jinn and men, did not Messengers come unto you from among you, who conveyed
unto you My revelations and warned you of the meeting of this your day? They shall say: We
bear witness against ourselves. They were deluded by the life of this world, and they bear
witness against themselves that they had been disbelievers
(al-An'am 6: 130).
Then the disbelievers
shall be driven in companies into Jahannam till, when they reach it, its gates will be
opened, and its keepers will say to them: Did not Messengers come to you, from among
yourselves, who conveyed unto you your Lord's revelations, and warn you against the
meeting of this your Day? They shall say: Yes, indeed! But the word of punishment will
have fallen due upon the disbelievers; and it shall be said to them: Enter the gates of
Jahannam, to dwell therein forever. How evil is the abode of those who are arrogant!
(al-Zumar 39: 71-2).
Surely We shall help Our
Messengers and those who have believed, in this world's life and on the Day when all the
witnesses shall stand up the day when their excuses shall not profit the evil-doers, and
theirs shall be the curse, and theirs the evil abode
(Ghafir 40: S1-2).
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The Qur'an gives a very moving account of how God's Messengers devoted
themselves in all earnestness to their mission, how they laboured hard to fulfil their
duty, how they suffered heavily in their cause. Their history is ample testimony of this.
But here two examples should suffice: firstly, that of the Prophet Noah and secondly, that
of the Prophet Muhammad, blessings and peace be on them.
Indeed, We sent Noah unto
his people, and he dwelt among them a thousand years, all but fifty . . .
(al-'Ankabut 29: 14) .
He [Noah] said: My Lord,
I have been calling my people night and day, but my call has only caused them to flee
farther away. And whenever I called them, that Thou mightest forgive them, they put their
fingers in their ears, and wrapped themselves in their garments, and persisted, and became
arrogant in their pride. Then indeed I called them openly, then indeed I spoke publicly
unto them, and I spoke unto them in private
(Nuh. 71: 5-9).
Would you [O Prophet],
perhaps, torment yourself to death because they refuse to believe?
(al-Shuiara' 26: 3).
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