Life with the Qurían

Volume I

Muhammad Al-Amrani

Forward 6

Key Qur’anic Concepts 14 Chronological Order of the Qur’an 17 This Interpretation of the Qur’an 21 Nature of Godhood 24 Nature of Man 30 Nature of Islam 34 Nature of Jihad 43 Islamic Perception and Philosophies 47 Qur’anic View of Today’s World 67 How to Create and Islamic State? 73 The West at the Abyss 75 Muslims at the Abyss 86 Slowness in Allah (SW)'s Victory 94 Myth of Qur’an and Science 98 Scenes from Judgment Day 103

1. al-Fātiĥah 2. al-Baqarah 3. āl-Imrān 4. an-Nisā’ 5. al-Mā’idah 6. al-An`ām 7. al-A`rāf 8. al-Anfāl 9. at-Taubah 10. Yūnus 11. Hūd 12. Yūsuf 13. ar-Ra`d 14. Ibrāhīm 15. al-Ĥijr 16. an-Naĥl 17. Banī Isrā’īl 18. al-Kahf 19. Maryam 20. Ţā Hā 21. al-Anbiyā’ 22. al-Ĥajj 23. al-Mu’minūn 24. an-Nūr 25. al-Furqān 26. ash-Shu`arā’ 27. an-Naml 28. al-Qaşaş 29. al-`Ankabūt 30. ar-Rūm 31. Luqmān 32. as-Sajdah 33. al-Aĥzāb 34. Saba’ 35. al-Fāţir 36. Yā Sīn 37. aş-Şāffāt 38. Şād 39. az-Zumar 40. al-Mu’min 41. Ĥā Mim Sajdah 42. ash-Shūrā 43. az-Zukhruf 44. ad-Dukhān 45. al-Jāthiyah 46. al-Aĥqāf

The Opening The Cow The Family Of Imran Women The Food The Cattle The Elevated Places The Spoils Of War Repentance Jonah Hud Joseph The Thunder Abraham The Rock The Bee The Israelites The Cave Mary Ta Ha The Prophets The Pilgrimage The Believers The Light The Criterion The Poets The Ant The Narrative The Spider The Romans Lukman The Adoration The Allies Sheba The Creator Ya Sin The Rangers Sad The Companies The Forgiving One Revelations The Counsel The Embellishment The Evident Smoke The Kneeling The Sandhills

1 11 239 401 598 772 897 1076 1163 1204 1397 1454

47. Muĥammad Muhammad 48. al-Fatĥ 49. al-Ĥujurāt 50. Qāf 51. adh-Dhāriyāt 52. aţ-Ţūr 53. an-Najm 54. al-Qamar 55. ar-Raĥmān 56. al-Wāqi`ah 57. al-Ĥadid 58. al-Mujādilah 59. al-Ĥashr 60. al-Mumtaĥanah 61. aş-Şaff 62. al-Jumu`ah 63. al-Munāfiqūn 64. at-Taghābun 65. aţ-Ţalāq 66. at-Taĥrīm 67. al-Mulk 68. al-Qalam 69. al-Ĥāqqah 70. al-Ma`ārij 71. Nūĥ 72. al-Jinn 73. al-Muzammil 74. al-Muddaththir 75. al-Qiyāmah 76. ad-Dahr 77. al-Mursalāt 78. an-Naba’ 79. an-Nāzi`āt 80. Abasa 81. at-Takwīr 82. al-Infiţār 83. at-Taţfīf 84. al-Inshiqāq 85. al-Burūj 86. aţ-Ţāriq 87. al-A`lā 88. al-Ghāshiyah 89. al-Fajr 90. al-Balad 91. ash-Shams 92. al-Layl

The Victory The Chambers Qaf The Scatterers The Mountain The Star The Moon The Merciful That Which is Coming The Iron She Who Pleaded The Exile She Who is Tested The Ranks The Day of Congregation The Hypocrites The Cheating The Divorce The Prohibition The Kingdom The Pen The Inevitable The Ladders Noah The Jinn The Mantled One The Clothed One The Resurrection The Man The Emissaries The Tidings Those Who Pull Out He Frowned The Cessation The Cleaving Asunder The Defrauders The Rending The Constellations The Night-Comer The Most High The Overwhelming The Dawn The City The Sun The Night

93. aď-Ďuĥā 94. al-Inshirāĥ 95. at-Tin 96. al-`Alaq 97. al-qadr 98. al-Bayyinah 99. al-Zilzāl 100. al-`Ādiyāt 101. al-Qāri`ah 102. at-Takāthur 103. al-`Aşr 104. al-Humazah 105. al-Fīl 106. al-Quraysh 107. al-Mā`ūn 108. al-Kauthar 109. al-Kāfirūn 110. an-Naşr 111. al-Lahab 112. al-Ikhlāş 113. al-Falaq 114. an-Nās

The Early Hours TheExpansion The Fig The Clot The Majesty The Proof The Shaking The Assaulters The Calamity Worldly Gain Time The Slanderer The Elephant The Quraish The Daily Necessaries Abundance The Unbelievers The Help The Flame The Unity The Daybreak The Men

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he Qur’an is Allah (SW)’s most gracious gift to all of mankind as a whole and to Muslims in particular. Conscious living with this book is a grace like non and a blessing a few have tasted. Allah (SW) Himself, the Exalted, the Infinite-Unknown, talking to man, that infinitesimal creature, through

this Qur’an. Nothing in this life measures up to this grace and this bounty. And Alhumdillah I lived with the Qur’an for a long period, during which I tasted that ultimate grace and bounty. I was captured by the verbal resonance, hammering rhyme, beautiful tempo, the expressions, the assonances and repetitions, the rhythm and sound of phrases, its syntactic images, the metaphors and the way the verses flow imperceptibly into a pragmatic convolutions, and its acoustic stress which induce in one a hypnotic-like state. I listened to Allah (SW) - through this Qur’an - telling man who he is? Who brought him here? What is the purpose of his creation? What is this unknown surrounding him? Who causes him to die and what happens to him after he dies? How should he act in order to attain happiness and grace? How should he deal with his fellow men and women? What happens to him when he goes astray, and why does he go astray? Why does he sometimes suffer and what are the causes of calamities, misfortunes, and miseries on earth? What is awaiting him in the hereafter? What should his economic, social, spiritual and political life be like? Who created this beautiful and majestic universe and who is expanding it, creating and changing? Who are man’s enemies and why do they harbor enmity for him? Who are the believers and what is their character like? Who are the disbelievers and hypocrites and what is their character like? How to believe and increase one’s faith? How does one gradually loses the ability to believe? Why were the messengers sent and what was their message?

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"Mankind: It is you, who stand in need of Allah (SW), whereas He alone is self-sufficient, the One to whom all praise is due. If He so wills, He can do away with you and bring forth a new creation." (35: 15-

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F

Forward

The Qur’an taught me that Allah (SW) created the entire universe “praise is due to Allah (SW) who created the heavens and the earth,” [6: 1] and that man’s creation was taken into consideration when designing it “don’t you see that Allah (SW) has made subservient to you all that is in the heavens an earth,” [31: 20] and that the whole universe and in all in it know their Maker “the seven heavens and earth extol his glory and all that they contain,” [17: 44], “and to Allah (SW) prostrate, willingly and unwillingly, all that are in the heavens and earth.” [13: 15]. I learned that man is a complex but unique creature with inherent polarity of doing good and bad “by the soul and proportion given to it, He has inspired it with its impiety and its piety,” [91:7-8] “and shown him the two highways,” [90:10] “We guided him the path either grateful or ungrateful.” [76: 3] And that human nature or man’s inborn natural disposition or instinctive awareness of Allah (SW) is inherently in submission to its Maker “and when your sustainer brought forth their offspring from the loins of the children of Adam and asked them to bear witness: Am I not Your Sustainer and they replied: Yes we bear witness,” [7: 172], and this natural disposition though might be blurred by adverse influences springs alive when man is faced with danger or becomes helplessly desperate “It is He who enables you to travel on land and sea and when you are in ships and they sail on in them in a favorable wind, and they rejoice, a tempest and waves surge towards them to be encompassed by death from all sides, they call unto Allah (SW) sincere in faith,” [10: 22] “when Allah (SW)’s chastisement befalls you or the last hour comes upon you, would you invoke any but Allah (SW) if you are sincere, nay but it is Him alone that you invoke,” [6: 40] “and whatever good you have it is from Allah (SW), and whenever harm befalls you, it is unto Him that you cry for help.” [16: 53] “and when affliction befalls men, they cry out unto their Sustainer turning unto Him but as soon as He lets them taste of His grace, some of them ascribe to other powers a share in their Sustainer’s divinity,” [30: 33] I learned that man’s fierce enemy is Satan and his progeny and that the battle will continue until Judgment Day. “Satan is your foe, so then take him as foe,” [35: 6] “and We’ve created you then fashioned you then told the angels to prostrate for Adam and they did save for Satan refused” [7: 11] “children of Adam: Do not allow Satan to seduce you in the same way as he caused your parents to be driven out of paradise: he deprived them of their garment in order to make them aware of their nakedness. Verily, he and his tribe see you while you cannot see them.” [7: 27] Though the source of this enmity and resentment cannot be fully comprehended and though the nature of Satanic impulses cannot be understood, they are real and have dire consequences for man in this life and the next. However man is fully equipped with the weapons to win the battle with Satan man loses only when he grows oblivious of his weapons and such oblivion is fundamentally caused by man’s self-inflicted unconsciousness, indifference, and nonchalance of Allah (SW) signs found around him “Verily, as for those who do not expect to meet Us, have accepted the life of this world and are content with it and are oblivious of Our signs,” [10: 7]. Life with the Qur’an taught me that the entire universe including earth, man and woman were created in pairs “and of every thing have We created pairs,” [51: 49] and that the creation of both - man and woman - was most likely similar in nature “be conscious of Your Sustainer who created you out of one single soul and created its mate,” [4: 1] “it is He who has created you out of one soul, and out of it brought into being its mate, so that he might incline towards her,” [7: 189], “and among His signs is that He creates for you mates out of your own kind from among yourselves so that you might incline towards them, and He engenders love and tenderness between you,” [30: 22] and that both are equally accountable for their own deeds “it is not according with your wishful thinking, nor with the wishful thinking of the followers of earlier revelation, who does evil shall be requited for it, and shall find none to protect him from Allah (SW), and none to bring him succor, whereas anyone, be it man or woman, who does of good deeds and is a believer withal, shall enter paradise, and shall not be wronged by as much as the

groove of a date-stone,” [4: 123-124] and that on judgment day no excuse for not believing will be accepted “man is responsible for his own soul even if he puts forwards his excuses,” [75: 14-15] and whatever befalls him is a direct consequence of his actions “whatever calamity may befall you is an outcome of what your own hands have wrought and He pardons much,” [42: 30] regardless of weather man is conscious of the outcomes of his acts or not. I was taught that Allah (SW) mercy towards man is infinite “Your Sustainer is indeed limitless in His bounty unto men - but most of them are bereft of gratitude,” [27: 73] and that He will not hold man accountable for his powerful brain inasmuch as the mind can buckle under the pressure of lust and wants nor for the signs of guidance found everywhere but for revelation only “have We vouchsafed unto thee, out of Our grace, a reminder, who shall turn away from it will, verily, bear a heavy burden on the Day of Resurrection,” [20: 99-100] which is the ultimate grace and bounty of the Infinite-Unknown. I learned that willful submission or Islam is the only religion that Allah (SW) accepts from all human beings at all ages inasmuch as His religion to all messengers and prophets was submission “if one seeks a religion other than submission [Islam] unto Allah (SW), it will never be accepted from him, and in the life to come he shall be among the lost,” [3: 85], “and who could be of better faith than he who surrenders his whole being unto Allah (SW) and is a doer of good withal, and follows the creed of Abraham, who turned away from all that is false,” [4: 125]. The Qur’an taught me that there is no such thing as haphazard or coincidence “we created all in measures,” [54: 49] “for it is He who creates every thing and determines its nature in accordance with its design,” [25: 2], and that the one Who creates causes and effects is the one Who determines the outcome “and you don’t will it until Allah (SW) wills it,” [81: 29], and though we may not understand the wisdom of the unknown, the only outlet from fears, insecurities, worries and concerns is to trust in Allah (SW) wisdom and mercy “no calamity can ever befall the earth, and neither your own selves but had been laid down in a decree before We bring it into being, verily, all this is easy for Allah (SW) so that you may not despair over whatever has escaped you nor exult over whatever has come to you,” [57: 22-23]. I came to be aware that Allah (SW) has instituted natural laws in the universe as well as laws in the human life which everyone is subject to. These laws are called in their aggregate sunnah Allah (SW) and do not change, alter or favor anyone, community or race “no change will you ever find in Allah (SW)’s way and no deviation will you ever find in Allah (SW)’s way,” [35: 44] Mankind’s history follows these laws and the Qur’an explicitly states human history has fluctuated between two stages: belief and disbelief or as the Qur’an calls it: Jahiliyyah 1 (ignorance in Allah (SW) ways) or light and that the rise and fall of empires follow these laws. In the Qur’an I saw and felt Allah (SW) laws and attributes at work “who is it that responds to the distressed when he calls out to Him, and who removes the ill,” [27: 62], “For Allah (SW) always prevails in whatever be His purpose,” [12: 21], “Verily, Allah (SW) always attains to His purpose,” [65: 3], “a sovereign doer of whatever He wills,” [85: 16], “Verily, Allah (SW) does not change men’s condition unless they change their inner selves and when Allah (SW) wills people to suffer evil there is none who could avert it: for they have none who could protect them from Him,” [13: 11], “He cannot be called to account for whatever He does, whereas they will be held accountable for what they do.” [21: 23] I learned that man’s inborn intuitive cognizance of His Maker is powerful and this hunger for Allah

1Jahiliyyah is the best fitting term describing the state of today’s world. However by saying Muslims are living in Jahiliyyah, I don’t label them unbelievers, rather their perceptions and concept of Islam resemble those who lived before the advent of Islam. Yet Muslim rulers are obviously unbelievers inasmuch as their high office entails them to rule according to Islamic law and all of them are aware of this fact and ignore it with conscious intent. Most of the Muslims of today never knew what Islam is for them to be called Muslims or no! One thing for certain is that the companions of the Apostle of Allah (SW) had a different Islam and different perceptions of Islam, Allah (SW), the universe and man than the those perceptions of the progeny.

(SW) is deeply seated in the human psyche and cannot be satiated by any other means or activities and this cognizance or hunger cannot be changed “set your face steadfastly towards the faith, turning away from all that is false, in accordance with the natural disposition which Allah (SW) has instilled into man not to allow any change to corrupt what Allah (SW) has hence created” [30: 30] or as the Apostle of Allah (SW) said: “Every child is born in this natural disposition: it is only his parents that later turn him into a Jew, a Christian, or a Magian.” (Bukhari & Muslim.) When Islam came in the sixth century, mankind had been suffering for centuries from rotten leadership and systems and rotten clergy and “corruption has appeared on land and in the sea as an outcome of what men’s hands have wrought,” [30: 40] No one can understand the need for a new messenger at that time until he reviews the massive pile of superstitions, dubious perceptions of Allah (SW) and His relationship with His creation, prevalent in the 6th century. The divine guidance of the Qur’an and its spirit and conception breathed into the hearts of the chosen elite – Prophet’s (S) companions – and caused them to rise out of the state of lethargy and low level of tribal stagnation to the high marks of world renown and empire. And in a short time they changed the course of history and kindled the world as the world’s Maker had ordered. The Qur’an elevated the Arabs and later Muslims and rendered them into a spiritual nation like non before. It raised them, and with them the rest of humanity, out of the abyss of darkness into human achievements in spirit and in material progress. The Qur’an corrected the perceptions of Godhood and slavehood, the perceptions of the universe and the relation between Allah (SW) and His subjects. The rise of Islam began when its adherents made use of Allah (SW) natural as well as spiritual laws and its demise began when they abandoned the natural or material laws and lagged behind mankind in science and material progress until they reached the abyss and lost both spirituality and materialism. Of all the calamities and catastrophes that have plagued mankind since the dawn of history, the demise of Islam was the most devastating. It demised and gradually lost the leadership of mankind and Jahiliyyah again assumed the leadership of mankind but this time in a more sinister and dangerous disguise: in the disguise of materialism, liberty, science and freedom which mankind are standing on top of today and wouldn’t let go of nor forsake those who represent it. During the absence of Islam, the West ruled umpire and its values, conceptions, thoughts, life style and perceptions of Godhood, and life have dominated earth. Yet despite the massive production, technological advancement and ease of life, man is miserable wherever he might be and mankind are suffering as they were before Islam came from rotten leadership, systems and clergy. Today the West stands like a giant bird soaring high but one of its wings, the spiritual one, is broken and slowly falling down. People continue, and will most likely continue for a long time to come, to try different ideologies and systems and in the way, man’s most beautiful and noble nature, characters, and qualities will be destroyed while his most complex and base feelings and needs will be fostered and encouraged. A crime unparalleled in the course of history and as a result man of today is living on the brink of annihilation and moving fast towards his destruction and whether he is conscious or unconscious of the looming disaster, it doesn’t make much of a difference inasmuch as man has lost the ability to pause owing in large to the stress and pressure of the demands of this material civilization. Mankind today live in total Jahiliyyah: everything around us is Jahiliyyah and the outcome of that engulfing Jahiliyyah including people’s perceptions, thoughts, systems, customs, cultures, and laws. This Jahiliyyah is based on an antithetical aggression on Allah (SW)’s dominion over earth and on one of Allah (SW)’s most solemn attributes namely His sovereignty. This contemporary Jahiliyyah awards sovereignty to men over men henceforth practically taking one another for Lords besides Allah (SW) not in the primitive naive way which the Jahiliyyah at the Prophet’s (S) time practiced but in a more complex fashion including claiming the right to institute concepts, values, legislation, laws and regulations and to determine the principles of right and

wrong without reference to Allah (SW)’s way of life and against Allah (SW)’s injunctions and hence the subsequent aggression on His subjects as a result of aggression on His sovereignty. The humiliation of man in the socialist systems and the gross injustices befallen the individuals and nations - via the control of capital and employment of colonialism - in the capitalistic systems are direct consequences of the aggression on Allah (SW)’s sovereignty. People living in a non-Islamic system are worshiping each others in one form or another and only in the Islamic system do people become free from worshiping each others to the worship of Allah (SW) alone, listen to Allah (SW) alone, submit to Allah (SW) alone, and take from Allah (SW) only as the supreme and sole prerogative of all sources. Never has total annihilation been so close to humanity as it is today because of its bankruptcy in the moral sphere vital for its healthy growth and true progress. When people in the West ran away from Allah (SW) in their quest for an escape from the Church and its oppressive and brutal measures, its corruption and its monopoly over understanding the Bible, they ran away from Allah (SW) and did not pause to differentiate between the corruption of the Church and the message of the Creator. They thought they would find their freedom, humanity and liberties in democracy and in its constitutions, parliaments, and freedom of speech and freedom of expression. But it was another illusion and the majority ended up as slaves for those who have the capital and with it the power of legislations, freedoms, laws and media. And later a few of them ran away from the oppressions of capitalism to communism and replaced the Allah (SW) of democracy and capital with the Allah (SW) of the state. But communism had collapsed and with it millions of lives were lost and democracy has bankrupted and the West has entered a new cycle of searching for ideologies and borrowing from socialism. But social ideologies including Marxism which, in its infancy, attracted a large crowd - inasmuch as it’s a doctrinal canon - in the East as well as the West had stifled as an idea and was practically confined to the state, and its laws had become far-fetched from the fundamentals of the doctrine. Similarly other movements such nationalism are no longer attractive and devoid of any new assets. The leadership and hegemony of the West is over not because the Western civilization has worn out financially or grown economically and military weak, but simply because it longer has any values allowing it to lead and the Western system is over with. A new leadership of mankind is needed. A leadership which can preserve and develop the material civilization humanity has reached and provide mankind with new values along with a genuine, positive and practical system that answers to the needs of the human entity as a whole. And Islam alone possesses these values and this system. The role of Islam and the Muslim community is critically needed at this hour of confusion, skepticism and chaos. Islam is not hostile nor repugnant to material ingenuity on earth as it considers it man’s first duty since Allah (SW) established him as His vicegerent on earth and regards – under specific conditions – man’s material creativity as worship of Allah (SW) and realization of man’s purpose of existence, “and your Sustainer said unto the angels: I am about to establish upon earth one who shall inherit it.” [2: 30], “and I have not created the invisible beings and the men to any end other than that they may worship Me.” [51: 56] The role of the Muslim community has arrived to fulfill what Allah (SW) designed for it when He brought it forth for mankind: “You are indeed the best community to have ever been brought forth for the good of mankind: you enjoin the doing what’s right and you forbid the doing of wrong and you believe in Allah (SW)” [2: 110] “and hence We willed you to be a community of the middle way so that you might bear witness before mankind and the Apostle bear witness before you.” [2: 143] However Islam has vanished from the face of the earth centuries ago and cannot play its role unless it takes shape in a society; that’s to organize its communal life within the framework of a state based on the ideological premises laid down by Islam. Mankind – especially today – do not listen to an abstract ideology which they cannot see adhered to and materialized in a practical way of life. The Islamic society is a group of people whose life, values, perceptions, concepts, social and economic systems, laws, rules and regulations are Islamic. And with this practical definition, the Islamic community with these characters has ceased to exist centuries ago when Allah (SW) rules ceased to rule man’s life umpire. Hence a revival of that community is

a must and the process of revival has begun with Allah (SW) grace. The world of today might allow a few to publish hundreds of books about Islam and might allow a few to call people to Islam, but it will never allow the establishment of an Islamic society even in a remote island. The very existence of an Islamic society, however small, is a threat to Jahiliyyah wherever it might be. And today the entire world including the one that used to be Islamic, is using iron and fire including cruel and inhumane measures to stifle the revival of Islam at its infancy. But we are confident that Islam will prevail. The battle is between secularism and faith and faith always prevails with Allah (SW) grace. Islam is a concept and way of life which humanity doesn’t possess inasmuch as it is not a byproduct of the western civilization nor any civilization be it east or west and that ‘fierce’ fight is futile inasmuch as their fight is against their Maker and to their own peril “the unbelievers spend their riches in order to turn others away from the path of Allah (SW); and they will go on spending them until they become a source of intense regret for them; and then they will be overcome” [8: 36]. Mankind at large – including the majority of Muslims – have abandoned their faith – consciously and unconsciously “and the Apostle [Muhammad] said: My Sustainer my people abandoned this Qur’an” [25: 31] - for centuries and it is difficult for them to comprehend the nature of the battle. Those who are bent on denying the truth, be them carriers of Muslim names, Jews, Christians or others will only find amusement in religion and the Qur’an will only add to their diabolical plots and hate “for what was revealed to you from Your Sustainer is bound to make many of them yet more stubborn in their overweening arrogance and in their denial of the truth” [5: 64], however we’re exhorted to deliver the message however clear: “and say: the truth has come from your Sustainer: let, then him who wills, believe in it, and let him who wills, reject it.” [18: 29] “O MANKIND: there has come unto you an admonition from your Sustainer and a cure for all the ills that maybe in men’s hearts.” [Qur’an: 10: 57]. Many Muslim scholars are genuine but lack an understanding of the human nature, history and the nature of the battle. But others including many thinkers are leading – with wonderful insouciance – a ‘hostile’ battle against Islam while believing they are rendering a great service to the faith! Though many of them are genuine in their call and despite their undisputed Islamic knowledge, their attitude is wholly based on a naïve and simple view of Islam, man and the world at large. However the majority of the scholars be them in the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, in the West or elsewhere are nothing but religious “puppets” for the rulers and do not hesitate to bend and twist the truth to suit their trivial gains. This is not new. Many rabies and priests before them did and continue to do exactly the same: “VERILY, as for those who suppress aught of the revelation which Allah (SW) has bestowed from on high, and barter it away for a trifling gain – they but fill their bellies with fire.” [2: 174]. The majority of mankind today are beguiled by this life and prone to devote themselves to the pursuit of what Allah (SW) describes as “passing delights” – including the pleasures which money and power can provide and end up with a complex state and attitude of mind which causes them to lose sight of any spiritual or moral values. Allah (SW) has instituted many natural laws in man’s life which in their aggregate are called sunnat Allah (SW) (the way of Allah (SW)) and never change. One of those laws is the law of “sealing the hearts” in which a person who persistently adheres to false beliefs and refuses to listen to the voice of truth gradually loses the ability to perceive the truth, so finally, as it were, “a seal is set upon his heart.” [2: 7]. Man ‘comparative’ free choice is clearly laid down in the Qur’an: “Verily, We did offer the trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains: but they refused to bear it, yet man took it up,” [33: 72] and he has always failed to measure up to the moral and intellectual responsibilities. Allah (SW) has taken the covenant from all of us – male and female - which is binding upon us all: “And remind them of the time when Your Sustainer brought forth from the loins of the children of Adam their descendants and made them bear witness about themselves. He asked them: ‘Am I not Your Lord?” They replied, “Most certainly, Thou alone are our Lord; we bear witness to this, Lest you say on the Day of

Resurrection, “We were unaware of this thing,” or lest you say, “Our fathers before us took false gods and we’re their descendants after them: will Thou then destroy us because of the deeds of the men who were futile.” [ 7: 172-173] Man ought to stop breaking his ‘bond’ with Him after it has been established and after He has taken it from him “As for those who break their bond with Allah (SW) after it has been established and spread corruption on earth – their due is rejection.” [13: 25] This life is limited to how much it can offer and often its riches are not pure and sometimes a cause of anguish, sorrow and pain and in comparison with the life after death, this life is insignificant in time and size: “Compared with the life to come, the life of this world is naught but a fleeting pleasure.” [Qur’an: 13: 26] This doesn’t mean to not work hard in this life. For Allah (SW) has made man His vicegerent on earth, it only means not pay so much heed to it “unto those who are bent on denying the truth, the life of this world has been made beauteous (charming and alluring) hence they scoff at those who have attained to faith and the believers shall be above them on Resurrection Day and as to the worldly riches, Allah (SW) has full authority and power to bestow these without measure on anyone He wills.” [2: 212]. It has always been the case, so the Qur’an teaches us, that Christians and Jews in particular will never be satisfied with Muslims and today the West - backed by Zionists and Muslim rulers and their puppet religious scholars - is leading another Crusade against Islam and Muslims worldwide while the majority of Muslims set and watch. This is not the first crusade nor will it be the last. They have always fought Islam since its inception “For, never will the Jews be pleased with thee nor the Christians unless you follow their own creed and if you follow their errant views after all the knowledge that has come unto you, you would have non to protect you from Allah (SW) and non to bring you any succor.” [2: 120] and sadly enough the Muslims followed the Jews and Christians in their “errant views” of life and religion and as a consequence have reached the abyss and non can bring them “any succor.” It is impossible to please or reconcile the Jews and Christians unless Muslims also adopt their attitude towards religion as they have adopted; a paying concern for the gratification of their desires and lusts; a hypocritical stance which made Allah (SW) worship a cloak for self-worship. Allah (SW) who has created all mankind and sees all the generations at the same time has warned Muslims long time ago “and they will never cease to fight you until they turn you away from your faith.” [2: 217] and that precisely what happened. Both the Jews and Christians have been fighting us for centuries until they managed to take the entire Muslim world under their banner and colonized all the known Islamic territories and after they were defeated time and again and after they lost their colonization battle in which they massacred hundreds of thousands of Arabs and Muslims, now they are back in Iraq and Afghanistan and back in the disguise of globalization, firms and products. Muslims were given strong warnings asking them to be on their guard in dealing with the hostile, diabolical and malicious scheming of the Jews and Christians and strongly admonished against any emulation of their behavior and warned not to fall for their trickery and deceit. Yet despite all this, the Muslims seem to never listen and till today continue to emulate and follow the West; be it in their lifestyle, their laws and practices or their views of Godhood and religion as a whole! What else does Allah (SW) have to say to the ‘losers’ for them to listen? Is there a greater foolishness than this!? The Qur’an has to be read with an open heart and mind; truly listened to and “be not like those who say: we’ve heard, the while they do not hearken.” [8: 21] or those “who, whenever they are reminded of their Sustainer’s messages, do not throw themselves upon them as if dead and blind.” [25: 73]. The average run of people approach the Qur’an with a mere outward show of eagerness; not making the least attempt to understand the message and hence – as the above verse alluded – remain deaf and blind to its contents for indeed in the Qur’an: “A reminder for everyone whose heart is wide-awake.” [50: 37]. The Qur’an was not revealed to ward off evil, or be hanged in walls or as amulets and charms nor was it revealed

to be recited in lyrics and musical tones, but as a complete code of life. The Benevolent Maker who has made Muslims the last bearers of His last message to all mankind and realize their worthlessness and their role in this life or at least save themselves, their skins and their families from the ever-lasting torment. I hope Christians, Jews, Hindus, Persians and others – most of them are oppressed and under terrible injustices - especially their women – would try to at least consider the message and search and pursue the faith which Allah (SW) has vouchsafed for all mankind in the Qur’an. Islam is an international declaration of freedom for man wherever he might be. Freedom from the shackles of the self, the ego, the fears, and worries, the shackles of corrupt systems and corrupt governments. I am aware of the enormous gulf between mankind as a whole and Muslims in particular and the Qur’an as Islam has vanished from the face of earth more than four centuries ago when its ‘inheritors’ abandoned it when they abandoned its laws and ceased to live by its sharia or laws. Like Jews and Christians, Muslims as well deserted their faith but as one might still identify Jews and Christians, one can still identify carriers of Muslims names. But I am certain and confident that man will eventually come back to this Qur’an and mankind cannot live for long time away from it. Today the world is divided into four categories: people of the book or Jews and Christians and those had associated naught with Allah (SW) in the past by ascribing the notion of sonship to him, corrupted their Bible, and later abandoned their book and set up new systems for themselves calling it capitalism, dictatorship, monarchy, democracy, communism, nationalism and eventually split into hundreds of sects and dominions and later put religion behind their back: “For having broken their [Children of Israel] solemn pledge, We cursed them and caused their hearts to harden: they distort the meaning of the words, taking them out of their context and they have forgotten much of what they had been told to bear in mind,” [5: 12-13] and a similar solemn pledge was taken from the Christians: “And likewise from those who say: we are Christians, We have accepted a solemn pledge: and they, too, have forgotten much of what they had been told to bear in mind - wherefore We have given rise among them to enmity and hatred until Resurrection Day:’’ [5: 14]. And a pledge was taken from the Muslims as well: “And remember the blessings which Allah (SW) has bestowed upon you, and the solemn pledge by which He bound you to Himself when you said: We have heard, and we have obeyed,” [5: 7] and Muslims broke that pledge and the consequences are apparent. The second category is the polytheists and those are in millions in China, India, the Philippines, Korea, Japan, and some tribes in Australia and Africa. The third category is the atheists and though small in numbers, they make big noise owing in large to their control of the media and includes armies of thinkers, scholars, philosophers, journalists, artists, poets, and movie and song celebrities and those behind obscenities. The fourth category is those who claim to be Muslims and have nothing to do with it. Those are not disbelievers in the sense that they do not offer rituals and prayers to non but Allah (SW) but disbelievers in the sense that they ceased to implement His laws and rules in their life and although some of them may half-heartedly concede that some of the moral teaching’s of the Qur’an contain certain verities, they instinctively recoil from those teachings whenever they conflict with what their own idiosyncrasies represent to them as desirable: and so they become guilty of hypocrisy in the deepest, religious connotation of this word. After many years of conscious friendship with the Qur’an, I concluded with absolute certainty that mankind will never be happy, nor at peace, nor in communion with themselves, their fellow men and all around them unless they go back to the Qur’an, build their perceptions according to its views, mould their entire life according to its tenets and values, build their social, economic, and spiritual life according to its code, implement its laws and injunctions in their whole life. Either man submits willfully to the Will of His Gracious Maker and that submission can only be through an understanding of the Qur’an or he will suffer the consequences in this life or the next or in both of them. Mankind will continue to try different experiences,

systems, laws and concepts but I am certain that they will go back to this book and this book alone at the end. Humanity will continue to go up a difficult trail; a trail of wars, miseries, poverty and agonies until they come out of the state of intoxication and insanity. I am also aware that an inflaming wall has been set between westners and Islam and mass media has succeeded in disfiguring this faith and westners may find ‘inspiration’ in Zen, Taoism, Islam remain to most of them deplorable. Plus the fact that its own ‘inheritors’ are the worst eyewitnesses of any faith let alone Islam and their miserable economic, social, political and military state - which is the direct outcome of their conscious and unconscious dissertation of their faith is repulsive to say the least. Despite all that the future is for Islam. “This is a message unto all mankind. Hence, let them be warned thereby, and let them know that He is the One and Only Allah (SW); and let those who are endowed with insight take it to heart.” [14: 52], And from Allah (SW) we seek aid. Muhammad Al-Amrani