Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society
2. IN THE LIGHT OF THE QUR’AN:
Turning to the Holy Qur’an, we find that the different requirements affirmed in the foregoing with regard to the realisation of the moral ideal are contained explicitly in the guidance it offers. It says:
1. The world is not eternal but has been created by God:
“To Him is due the primal origin of the heavens and the earth: when He decrees a matter, He says to it: ‘Be’, and it is.” (2:117).
He (i.e., Prophet Abraham) said: ‘Nay, your Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, He Who brought them into existence: and I am a witness to this (truth).” (21:56).
“Allah originates the creation (—nothing existing of its own accord or fortuitously) …” (30:11).[1]
2. The world has been created by the All-Wise, All-Powerful, All-Controlling God with exquisite Plan and Design:
“Blessed is He Who sent down the Criterion to His Servant (Muhammad), that he may be unto all nations a Warner— He to Whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth: no son has He begotten, nor has He a partner in His dominion: It is He Who created every thing, and ordained for it a measure (establishing thereby exquisite Plan and Design).” (25:1-2).
“No want of proportion will you see in the Creation of (Allah) Most Gracious. So turn your vision again. See you any flaw?” (67:3).
3. The world created for a serious and definite Purpose:
“We created not the heavens, the earth, and all between them, merely in (idle) sport: We created them not except for just ends, But most of them do not understand.” (44:3839).
4. Creation of the world is for a moral end—the world is a Moral Order:
“And Allah has created the heavens and the earth with purpose (and for just ends) and in order that every soul may find the recompense of what it has earned, and none of them be wronged.” (45:22).
“Blessed is He in Whose hands (i.e., possession) is the Dominion, and He over all things has Power;—He Who created Death and Life, that He may try which of you is best in deeds: and He is the Exalted in Might, Oft-Forgiving.” (67:1-2).
5. The world is real:
“And it is He Who has created the heavens and the earth in Truth (or, as real).” (6:73).
“Not falsely and without purpose did We create the heavens and the earth and all between! That were the thought of the Rejectors of Truth.” (38:27).
“Behold! in the constitution of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of the Day and the Night, there are indeed Signs for those who possess and employ understanding. (They are those) who remember Allah standing, sitting and lying on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) Creation in the heavens and the earth (and say): ‘Our Lord! You have created not all this falsely (and in vain).[2] Glory be to You! Preserve us from the doom of the Fire’.” (3:191).
Also, we have been told:
“(O Man!) pursue not that of which you have no knowledge (i.e., entertain no such opinion for which you have no sound reason to believe to be true). Verily, the hearing and the sight and the heart—each of these is accountable in respect of it.” (17:36).
It should be noted here that if the contents of sense experience be unreal, the accountability of the senses would become meaningless. Hence, the world, according to this verse also, is real.
6. The world is essentially Good and it is the Best Possible World:
“… He Who has made every thing which He has created Most Good …” (33:7).
7. Basis for struggle in the form of pairs of conflicting forces functioning under the Law of Opposites,[3] is ingrained in the very constitution of the world:
“And in all things We have created pairs (—pairs of opposites and pairs of complimentaries—): that haply you may reflect (and obtain the guidance involved).” (51:49).
8. Realisation of the Moral Ideal enshrined in the very Destiny of the world:
This point has been discussed and affirmed in detail in the section on “Life-after-Death”. Here we may quote just two verses:
The following verse refers to the success of the forces of the Good and the defeat of the forces of Evil, both in the earthly career of humanity and the Life Hereafter:
“Yes, to Allah belongs all that is in the heavens and on the earth: so that He may recompense those who do evil according to their deeds, and He may reward those who do good with what is best.” (53:31).
The following verse speaks specially of the final and total triumph of the forces of the Good in the Life-Hereafter:
“Those who are god-fearing (i.e., cultivate and practise righteousness out of respect for Divine Pleasure) shall be (triumphant) above them (i.e., the Unbelievers in the principle of Submission to God—or, the unrighteous) on the Day of the Resurrection.” (2:212).
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[1] As to the words bada‘a, fatara, bada’a used for the act of creation in the above verses: Bada‘a stands for the very primal beginning; Fatara implies, like bada‘a, the creating of a thing out of nothing and after no pre-existing similitude, or, the creation of primeval matter to which further processes were applied later; Bada’a (without the ‘ain) denotes beginning the process of creation. (Ref: Lane’s Arabic English Lexicon).
[2] Here the Hindu doctrine of Maya, which regards the whole universe as an illusion, has been repudiated, affirming the reality of the world as we perceive it by our senses.
[3] This Law has been discussed in detail in the Author’s forthcoming book on the “Dynamics of Moral Revolution”.
to be continued . . . . .
Quranic Foundation & Structure Of Muslim Society In The End Times
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