The Holy Qur’ān is the Final Testament of the Almighty. Humankind has with it this Word of God preserved word for word. With the passage of time the adherents to this sublime masterpiece have increased to billions.
One question is bound to arise in the minds of all the people who refer to the Word of God for guidance: What is the real topic of the Book. If we care to read the Book with sincerity and seriousness of purpose, it is evident as the mid-day sun that the sole aim of this scripture is the guidance of man; man is the real end that the Book aims. It is his guidance that is the real objective of the Book. Naturally, the next moment we think of a typical individual, the characteristic man whom the Book conceives. In the following lines we make an effort to depict the type of person the Holy Qur’ān envisages -- the kind of traits its believers should carry.
An intellectual study of the Book would reveal that there are basically three main facets that every Muslim should have who believes in the truth of this Book. These are professing faith, doing good deeds and finally urging people to adopt this faith and these deeds.
First we take into account faith as the first ornament in the personality of a believer. Faith in Allah is the chief ingredient of a person who believes in the book. A believer is not someone who has yet to overcome the intellectual confusions in his way to discover God. He is somebody for whom Allah is the central entity in his life. He has great confidence in God. He sees His benevolence when every reasoning fails. He spots the ray of hope when the world of strategies is darkened. He feels himself cured when the science of medicine is silent over the remedy. When people fail to find a way out, he stands with his brimming trust on the Almighty and proclaims to all the world that he is seeing the way. He is not an individual who is still roaming in the world of reasoning to experience Allah -- he has gone way ahead. For the former, the faith in Allah has not gained grounds in the heart, but for the latter Allah has become the rock. This is the kind of faith the Holy Qur’ān asks from its believers.
The second pearl in the realm of faith is the belief in Prophet Muhammad (sws). Faith in the Holy Prophet (sws) is something that brings a striking change in one’s personality. Faith in the Holy Prophet (sws) asks us to follow his Sunnah and pay due regard to his commands. When this faith bears deep roots in our conscience, only then every other relationship of this world becomes inferior to his relationship. The love for the Holy Prophet (sws) should supersede every other affiliation with anyone else in this world. But gaining a sound understanding of this faith is very essential for its true application in our lives. Today when the person of the Holy Prophet (sws) is no more in this world, it is his personality with which we should associate our emotions. The way we adore someone’s being in the shape of a poet or a statesman who is no more in this world, in the same manner the faith in the Prophet Muhammad (sws) should prevail in our lives. He should be the centre of our love.
The last major tenet of faith is the faith in the Hereafter. Though it may be regarded as an offshoot of one’s faith in Allah, the Hereafter’s concept is a unique phenomenon in the creed of Islam. Looking forward to a different world is something that everyone feels once or more than once in his life. But where this world is and what it will be like are the important questions. It shouldn’t be sought somewhere else. According to the Holy Qur’ān, it is all above us. All of us see the vast expanse over us. The stars, the planets, the satellites, the solar systems, all these are relating a different story. All this would be converted into a new earth and new heaven on the Day of Judgement, as the Qur’ān says (14:48). Regarding the time of the event, the Holy Prophet (sws) has guided people in a glorious fashion: The time of death in everyone’s life is Doomsday for him. For him the period to amass the valuables for the Hereafter ends with his death.
Keeping all this in mind, one should nurture the faith in the Hereafter in one’s life. The aspiration for Paradise is only the starting point. Its culmination is achieved when one starts living in quest for Paradise. Look at the person who sits on a station with all his luggage and waits for the train: Everything settled, the luggage, the necessities, the ticket. And then observe the calm on that passenger, narrating a unique story. That’s the analogy of a person who is now inquisitive about the Hereafter -- the Paradise. Now the desire for Paradise has transformed into a craving to see Paradise. He is not afraid of something dangerous over there -- rather living to see ahead. That is the kind of faith the Holy Qur’ān expects from its believers.
The next shade of a believer’s life are the deeds he offers before God. Our world is a place of action. The ethical responsibilities the Book of God entails on a believer are not very hard to find. The world of morals is deeply rooted in one’s conscience. He doesn’t need to know the basic rights and wrongs in his life. The dictates of conscience guide him to the way of truth. But the force of our faith in Allah, in the Holy Prophet (sws) and in the Hereafter takes a natural outlet in our deeds.
At every moment in our life, at every occasion in our life, faith in the Almighty makes us remember Him - while signing an official file, while delivering a verdict or while weighing an item at our shop. We remember God when we disrupt our sleep in the night -- in the way taught by our beloved Holy Prophet (sws). At every occasion, our heart keeps His thought alive. Similarly, faith in the Prophet Muhammad (sws) doesn’t let us become oblivious of the plight of his Ummah and his mission. We are always concerned over the dire straits of the Muslims. In the same way, faith in the Hereafter is reflected in our every decision: when erecting a building, when deciding for a wife or when bequeathing our heritage.
All these motives behind the deeds of a believer develop a unique individual on this earth. On the one hand, he is like a fierce horse ready to waylay the enemy. On the other hand, he is like gentle rain that showers on every soul. As the Prophet Jesus (sws) has said he is vigilant as a serpent and harmless as a dove.
Finally, the third facet is the promotion of faith and deeds. Promoting the Will of God among fellow citizens is one of the striking features of his life. But he is not the one who humiliates others to promote his point. He is the one who knocks at others’ doors in the darkness of night, in the calmness of solitude to narrate his feelings. His soul saddens over the poor morals over his fellow citizens; he fears for the day when such people would be the fuel of the inferno. But he never considers himself superior while spreading the Word of God. He doesn’t say: ‘O ye people, God is great, ye art not’. Instead he utters: ‘O ye people, God is great, I am not’. Similarly, he is not the one who has learnt to speak and speak alone. He listens to every positive thing that is related to him. He spreads the opinion he thinks right but very astonishingly accepts other’s viewpoint if he finds his weaker. For him the tools of perseverance and wisdom are the weapons to move among his fellow beings.
This is the picture of the person who is the true follower of the path of God as narrated in His Book. This is the type of personality that the Holy Qur’ān wants us to acquire. But surely like every achievement asks an immense toil, same is true over here. The path to this accomplishment may be traversed through two invaluable assets. First is our continued, permanent link with the Book of God. Just like we spend some moments in our every day routine on fulfilling the needs of our stomach, in the same fashion we need to spare some time daily with the Holy Qur’ān. Secondly, the company of true scholars and pious individuals is indispensable for someone who wishes to achieve the character desired by God. The sweetness of faith one experiences in the meeting with such blessed souls is something only those can feel who have tasted it.