The vanishing grey

ASSUMING there is no war or a large-scale retaliation against Pakistan because of America’s pressure and other considerations, what would India do if there were yet another incident like the one near Jammu? The limit, if there was any room, was reached after the Indian parliament was attacked more than five months ago. The outcry at that time was no less than what it is today.

Understandably, no government can sit quiet when its capability, if not legitimacy, is questioned. But has it any long-term strategy? After every attack by the terrorists, it is given out that the diplomatic activity would be widened and the border vigilance increased. But what has happened so far?

As for diplomacy, no country in Europe is willing to buy our line that General Pervez Musharraf is not sincere in suppressing terrorism against India. Winning back opinion in our favour is the real test of diplomacy, not the false claims by the ministry of external affairs. Regarding vigilance on the border, terrorists from across continue to strike at will despite the wall of soldiers.

It seems the hardliners are determined to sabotage everything, including the coming state elections. Abdul Gani Lone, who was shot dead, was a moderate. That slogans like ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ were raised at the meeting where Lone was killed is significant. Pakistan is wrong in inferring that India does not want to solve the problem of Kashmir.

In all Indo-Pakistan agreements from Tashkent to Lahore, New Delhi has mentioned Kashmir. But is cross-border terrorism the solution to the problem?

New Delhi’s credibility is doubted since the government has not issued any White Paper to give concrete evidence on how the number of terrorists trained, armed and sheltered across the border is increasing, not decreasing as the US state department says. When it comes to reaction, New Delhi is fierce but rhetorical, threatening but tentative. It lacks a policy. Pakistan is a hostile neighbour and, good or bad, we have to live with it.

Civil society in Pakistan is our best constituency. We have practically no contact with it. Whatever little link there was, we snapped it by stopping the train, the bus and the plane operating between the two countries. Unwittingly, we have made people in Pakistan pay for the follies of the military government, knowing well that the public does not count in the governance of that country. It is as much fed up with the regime as we are. The demand by political parties that a caretaker government should replace the military rulers spells out popular feelings.

Our policy after the takeover by General Ayub Khan in 1958 should have been to help the Pakistanis to get back democracy. India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru was correct in bemoaning in parliament the military takeover in Pakistan. But then the “doctrine of necessity,” the reason which the Pakistan Supreme Court used to ratify the coup by Musharraf has guided New Delhi as well. Without demur, it has accepted the military rule in Pakistan as if it is inevitable.

Instead of getting absorbed in sterile Track-I or Track-II talks between the people selected by the two governments — it was Washington’s idea — India should have worked for the restoration of democracy in Pakistan. It is true that it is up to any nation to have the government it likes. But do the Pakistanis have any choice? Military rulers have come whenever they have wanted to and withdrawn whenever they found the people’s ire against them.

Without interfering in Pakistan’s internal affairs or adopting a holier-than-thou attitude, our endeavour should be to enable the people in Pakistan to rule themselves. We should openly and persistently knock at the door of countries all over the world to point out how the military in Pakistan pushes out the elected governments at will.

It would be ideal if the West, particularly America, were to join in this effort. A country that swears by the charter of freedom cannot and should not be on the side of military dictators. But then Washington has a penchant for autocrats. It believes that the ideal of democracy is dispensable if there are compensating considerations.

By pointing out to Washington that it has gone back on its promise to fight terrorism wherever it existed, we will not reach anywhere. It would not have woken up to the menace of terrorism in the first place if the happenings in New York and Washington had not taken place. So it is futile to expect anything from it except sermons on restraint.

One does feel sad that Indo-US relationship that was on the up has been adversely affected. Both the prime minister and the home minister returned from Washington last year with the assurance that the tilt, if any, would be towards India.

No doubt, America has not spared words in condemning the acts of terrorism in India but it has never mentioned any country by name. It is difficult to believe that Washington does not know the name. With all its intelligence agencies working in Pakistan and India, in fact all over the region, and the satellites hovering in the sky, America has a full and clear picture. But it prefers to keep quiet.

Obviously, it wants Pakistan’s support in dealing with the Taliban and Al Qaeda who are spread all over Pakistan. They have the support of religious elements from within. That may explain why Islamabad has said ‘no’ to America’s action in Waziristan on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, where thousands of Taliban and Al Qaeda militants are living after leaving Afghanistan.

It is obvious that America does not want to take a stand, which is not to the liking of Musharraf. It does not seem to realize that he has two yardsticks for measuring terrorism — one for Washington and another for India. He believes that when it comes to India, he does not have to comply with the promise he made in his January 11 speech to suppress the jihadis and religious zealots. In fact, he has released most of the fundamentalists he had arrested. Seventy training camps of the terrorists have come up already.

Washington realizes that Musharraf is under pressure from within and should not be driven to the wall. New Delhi does not believe this because it is well known the Taliban and the Al Qaeda are the creation of Islamabad. It is not beyond the military regime to chastize them or their supporters in Pakistan. When it could contain them during America’s action in Afghanistan, why not now?

Musharraf had to divert attention from the dubious referendum he held to install himself as president for five years. He couldn’t get the legitimacy that he wanted to earn because most people stayed away from the polling booths. He considers confrontation with India the best way to end the debate on his election.

There is little likelihood of terrorism coming down because Musharraf believes he can thus focus international opinion on Kashmir. From the Kargil war to the incident in Jammu, his entire effort has been directed towards it. America can influence Musharraf, not through sweet talk but by withdrawing the economic munificence it continues to shower on Pakistan.

Islamabad must realize that for any attempt to solve the Kashmir dispute, there has to be an atmosphere of peace in which India and Pakistan could sit across the table and also involve the Kashmiris at an appropriate time.

The problem with the two countries is that the grey area between them has shrunk so much that what is visible is either white or black. It is sad that no serious effort has been made even by eminent people on both sides to discuss Kashmir to find some mutually acceptable solution.

The writer is a freelance columnist based in New Delhi.

A lesson in nation-building

Last week, East Timor was a territory ruled by Portuguese colonists for four centuries and Indonesia for nearly 25 years. This week, it was an independent nation, one of the poorest in the world but also a concrete example of the power of the United Nations to do good.

The new president, Jose Alexandre Gusmao, won a landslide election in April in balloting that was an important part of the transformation of the eastern half of Timor island from centuries of dependency to a free, democratic nation.

Gusmao deserves credit for reaching out to Indonesia to heal the wounds caused by brutal Indonesian repression. He visited Jakarta to invite Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri to the independence celebrations, and she accepted.

Some members of the Indonesian Parliament pressured her to boycott the ceremonies, contending that her presence would support a territory the legislators insisted is still an integral part of Indonesia. Megawati was right to spurn that advice. The thousands of East Timorese gathered for the celebrations cheered her as Gusmao clasped her hand.

Even the economic picture is looking up a bit. Energy companies have agreed to seek and develop oil and gas supplies in the Timor Sea.

Three years ago, Indonesian soldiers and their pawns in local militias killed an estimated 1,000 people and burned hundreds of homes after East Timorese voted for independence. Violence ended soon after the arrival of U.N. peacekeepers; building a civil society has taken longer. International experts helped develop a police force and staffed government ministries, showing East Timorese how to handle their own affairs.

East Timor is not a template for Afghanistan, but it does offer lessons in building a nation. Security is vital; armed enemies must be routed and factionalism among the victors ended. Political institutions must allow for economic development.

—Los Angeles Times

Prophet’s pioneering role

THE Prophet (peace be upon him) under the Divine guidance created an ideally just and a highly successful socio-political order in the seventh century. This order shall for ever remain the archetypal model of polity and statecraft for mankind in general and Muslims in particular.

However, far greater achievement of the Prophet was the laying of those firm foundations on which this order was based. For his singular success mainly consisted in establishing the kingdom of God in the hearts and souls of the believers. Thereafter, it was no longer difficult to erect and sustain the edifice of an ideally just and balanced social and political moral and spiritual order, that claimed the voluntary loyalty and total commitment of the believer’s community.

First the Prophet transformed the believers through teaching and cleansing their minds and hearts from all those ailments and perversions that hinder moral development and screen the light of guidance from illuminating the interior self of man. Once this real stupendous task was accomplished, and Muslims formed a well-integrated community of faith, the other fruits of this human crop appeared in quick succession and full blossom.

When Muslims migrated from Makkah after going through thirteen years long taming of souls and training of minds, and joined their brethren in faith at Madinah, there emerged on the stage of history, an ideal moral and spiritual community and at the same time a perfect pattern of socio-politics. All this was achieved by the Prophet with least external effort and little coercive means, thanks to the metamorphosis of the minds and souls of the believers at Makkah.

This new society and polity of Madinah was founded by the Prophet with active co-operation of his companions, on the grund norm of the supreme authority of Divine rule. Under this order, all people willingly submitted to Divine rule and none was exempted from its normative jurisdiction. In fact those placed at the important positions of collective responsibility by the Prophet were those who bound themselves most by this rule of divine law.

The Prophet himself vowed and declared that he was the first and the foremost to submit to the dictates of Divine ordinances and he proved it by all his actions. Indeed as the Mother of the Faithful Aysha Siddiqa (may Allah be pleased with her) testified, the Prophet was a ‘Quran Incarnate’ ‘a living embodiment of Divine words.’ So when the community of believers at large was required to submit to God, they found ample demonstration of this submission in the model pattern of the Prophet as well as in the virtuous conduct of his close companions.

By establishing an all-pervasive Divine rule, the Prophet emancipated the believers’ community from all shackles of subjugation, and abolished all forms of exploitation of men by men. All existing shutters of slavery and serfdom, distinctions of classes and clans and all the diabolical instruments of human bondage characteristic of non-Islam were eliminated once and for all. And eventually all images and symbols of discrimination and exploitation were trampled down under the Prophet’s feet as he unequivocally declared in his historic address on the occasion of the farewell pilgrimage.

Under the terms of this new polity of Madinah, every individual became a ruler over himself. There was no outside mortal sovereign over him in this world. For the real sovereignty in that society and polity belonged to Allah alone. And Allah’s rule was not confined like earthly rulers to the bodies of men, the territories inhabited and the riches earned by them.

This rule was firmly rooted in the innermost precincts of human hearts and souls. From the souls of believing men and women animated by faith in Allah, the rule of Allah was translated to their corporeal selves, their soils and habitats and ipso facto showed in their voluntary acts and utterances, reactions and responses, inner feelings and external attitudes alike.

In the Prophet’s ideal polity, the ownership of man as well as his resources belonged to Allah. Man as Divine vicegerent and trustee had been commissioned to live here and appropriate the resources of this world under the Divine dictates and decrees so as to shape his life and fashion this world according to the ethical vision given by Allah. Men and women did indeed acquire, possess and even enjoy the bounties of Allah spread in the rich resources of human habitat. But those possessors of Divine bounties perceived themselves as belonging to Allah, and had therefore, willingly subordinated all their ambitions and desires to the pleasure of Allah.

Hence automatically all human and natural resources of the earth that were placed at the disposal of this polity, were employed and managed as demanded by man’s commitment of love and loyalty to Allah. The best example of the operationalization of this idea was witnessed in the historic event of Muakhat. All the helpers of Islam from Madinah (Ansar) on slight indication from the Prophet quite happily decided to share their possessions and holdings with their Muslim brethren in faith who had migrated with the Prophet to Madinah.

In the socio-political order of Madinah, the Prophet made every individual accountable for his own particular sphere. A father was made responsible for his children, a husband for his wife, a wife for her home, a teacher for his pupils, an employer for his employees, and an administrator for his area of public service, a judge for his jurisdiction and a warrior for the frontiers of Islamic realms and so on. Each one was placed as a guardian over his wards as it were.

Naturally in this kind of a socio-political order, no one could establish his personal, group, family, clannish, tribal or ethnic superiority. Because the only criteria of respectability recognized therein was taqwa: i.e. “subordinating human discretion to the pleasure of Allah.” Significantly once the Prophet repeated three times in a sermon the fact that taqwa was essentially an inner condition best known to Allah alone.

In this way the Prophet abolished all concepts and cults of discrimination even on the basis of a supposed religiosity. It was indeed a real empowerment of the people, albeit a purposeful and constructive one: an empowerment to bring man and his world under the moral writ of Allah in order to realize the raison d’etre of human genesis. Through this unique empowerment, the Prophet delegated his mission to the community of his companions. And they in turn transferred this mission to subsequent generations.

The Prophet successfully inculcated the notion in the minds of the believers that power and governance were not desirable for their own sake. That was why self-candidature was not known in the political culture introduced by the Prophet. In fact people seeking office for themselves were debarred from that office in the political dispensation given by the Prophet. For power was never acquired by the Prophet nor by his companions and followers for the sake of power. It was employed for the sake of liberating men from the rule of other men and bringing them under the rule of one God.

However, the believers lent themselves to Divine rule by their own conviction and willing acceptance of this rule. According to the explicit verdict of the Qur’an, power and authority belong exclusively to Allah, the Creator and Sustainer of the entire universe. The only way to justify its acquisition by men is to employ it for the furtherance of the Divinely approved objectives and within the strict framework of Divinely sanctioned moral norms and for the service of the perennial interests of humanity as a whole.

All other forms of power politics that establish or perpetrate the subjugative authority of powerful men over powerless multitudes and thus divide humanity, are nothing but satanic machinations, whether these forms of power-mongering existed in the past or thus exist now. These are all inconsistent and often repugnant to the morals and norms of Islam. In fact in the true perception of Islam, these constitute a direct defiance of God and an erosion in this exclusive authority.

Naturally no sooner than this political order was established in Madinah under the guidance and leadership of the Prophet, all man-made distinctions of tribalism, ethnicity, language, colour, race, gender and territorial prejudice were rendered irrelevant. Because these affinities were overshadowed by the verriding commitment of the believers to Allah and their loyalty for the Prophet. This commitment to Allah and the Prophet transcended all other concerns and considerations of their lives.

That is the reason why we find that in the subsequent periods of Islamic history, the religious and cultural, social and political leadership of Islamic community did not remain confined to the Arabs of the Peninsula. It alternated in different epochs between Arabs, Persians, Turks, Byzantians, Mesopotanians, Central Asians, Moors, Indians, Afghans and Kurds. That is also why Islam gradually abolished slavery through a wise gradual reform and absorbed the freed slaves in the social body of the community. And that is why there could emerge in the generation immediately after the Prophet a prominent group of gifted scholars of the Qur’an who almost entirely consisted of the freed slaves (mawali). Their erstwhile bondage was no stigma for them in attaining this singular honour — the knowledge and erudition in the Qur’an — which indeed was the highest honour in that society. That is also precisely why no civilization other than Islam had a series of dynasties of freed slaves. These facts amply prove that the Muslims not only freed the slaves from their bondage, but also brought them entirely at par with other freemen of the society in every respect.

Some superficial observers might still consider these ideas as utopian. But history bears witness to the fact that these ideas were not only implemented by the Prophet but these principles actually guided the Islam’s political genius and shaped the course of Muslim political history for centuries. Thus it was evidenced that the political ideals of Islam as promulgated by the Prophet were not only unsurpassed in their perfection, but were also most practical, viable and fully tested by time.

True upholder of human rights

IF the privileged classes deny the less fortunate ones even the bare necessities of life the latter are likely to resort to such actions which may destroy the whole fabric of society.

The only way to prevent such a happening and salvage the society is to accord the disadvantaged ones what is their due. This was exactly what the Prophet (peace be upon him) did. He very clearly spelt out what was good and what was bad for human beings not only with reference to their mundane and material concerns but he also brought out the more permanent effects of their acts, particularly the effects which transcend the horizons of this ephemeral phase of human existence.

He built up a society upon the firm foundation that no injustice shall be committed against any individual, group or community, every one must get what is his due, and that the mutual relationship of the members of the society be primarily guided by a zeal to recognize and concede to others their rights and far less on the demand for one’s own rights.

These objectives, however, cannot be achieved except by maintaining a constant vigil over the public and private morality in order not to allow the society to sink to a level where it loses its sense of direction and proportion, and becomes insensitive to pernicious influences. It is precisely the point where the flame of the collective conscience of a society is nearly extinguished.

The Prophet exhibited his God-gifted insight when he declared, “disseminate, promote and propagate virtues, and persuade, encourage and inspire the people by words and deeds to remain steadfast to what is good and rightful and fight against all that is evil, injurious and wrong. Dissuade and discourage them from falling a prey to ideas, attitudes and practices harmful for the society collectively or individually.” He warned in unequivocal words, “Unless you persevere in doing so, such horribly destructive calamities would engulf the entire society that the prayers of even the most righteous amongst you would not be answered.”

The viability and inherent worth of a society is best reflected in its attitude towards law and maintenance of its sanctity and inviolability which in turn largely depends on enforcement of law on an equal basis. Firm establishment of the idea of equality before law is one of the outstanding features of the Prophet’s reformative endeavours.

“Many a nation and community before you fell from the grace of God and were decimated because when a person from the lower strata of their society committed a crime, full punishment was meted out to him, but when a higher up indulged in exactly a similar crime a lenient view was taken thereof and the law was twisted and squeezed out of shape to suit the culprit’s interests according to his rank and status”, the Prophet thus described the part played by the destructive consequences of illegal and immoral attitudes and indulgences of a corrupt judiciary and wicked law enforcing agencies in ruining a society.

While upholding the principle of equality before law, he further declared: “Had even the daughter of Muhammad (peace be upon him) committed a crime she would have been certainly punished for that.” This pronouncement from the Prophet was made when a certain lady belonging to upper class, named Fatima, was booked for the crime of theft and her tribe felt that the entire tribe would be disgraced and humiliated if the lady was punished for the commission of that crime. None, however, dared to interfere with the course of law by requesting the Prophet to drop the punishment.

Nevertheless, they felt very much concerned as the punishment in this case was going to permanently tarnish the image of an otherwise honourable lady and injure the pride of the entire tribe. After long deliberations the tribal elders somehow succeeded in obtaining the assent of Zaid, the one whom the Prophet loved as his son and whom he had, before adoption was abolished by the Quran, actually adopted as son, to intercede with the Prophet for dropping the punishment.

The Prophet instead of accepting the request of one of his dearest ones explained the dreaded consequences of disrupting the principle of equality before law in a convincing and forceful manner.

Equality before law is, however, practically impossible to establish unless the principle that ‘all men are equal’ firmly takes its root in the minds of the people. The Prophet in the first-ever declaration of human rights during his last pilgrimage, affirmed the equality of men by announcing that “no Arab is superior to a non-Arab, nor a non-Arab to an Arab. Neither a white is superior to a black nor a black to a white. All of you have descended from Adam and Adam was raised out of dust. Superiority consists in the fear of Allah alone.”

Thus cutting through all the ideologies, beliefs and philosophies which divide mankind on the basis of language, caste, colour, race, geography, nationhood, tribes and claim superiority on the basis of one or the other pretext were declared whimsical, farcical, artificial, discriminatory, derogatory and undignified for humanity and the fundamental equality of mankind was firmly and finally established. One of the most coveted ideals ‘Universal Equality of Man’ being achieved, the logical corollaries had to flow.

‘Sanctity of human life’ irrespective of colour and creed occupies pride of place in the Prophetic formulations regarding societal regeneration. “Anyone who kills a man without any justification thereof, that is, neither in retribution for a murder nor for creating and fomenting corruption and evil (fasad) on earth, is deemed to have slain the entire humanity,” the Quran laid down. Killing of a human being was termed by the Prophet as one of the most heinous crimes and was described by him to be one of the seven mortal sins. He indicated thereby that murdering an innocent person has the far-reaching effect of killing the soul of the killer himself.

In his ‘Last Sermon’ he called murder an act of infidelity (kufr) while he instructed his followers in these words, “Do not, after me, relapse into infidelity, cutting the throats of one another.” Close on the heels of sanctity of life followed the sanctity of honour and property. The Prophet (pbuh), on the same occasion of the Last Pilgrimage, likened in most emphatic words the sanctity of human life, honour and property to the sacrosanctity and inviolability of the Holy Month and the Holy City.

Even in the event of war difference between combatants and non-combatants has to be maintained. Under the express instructions from the Prophet, women, children and those persons who have renounced worldly affairs and devoted themselves solely to the worship of God must not be killed. The very modern and ‘civilized’ concept of “collateral damage” directly contravenes the Prophetic norms.

As for the sanctity of property, any attempt to grab any kind of property by illegal and immoral means has been very strongly condemned by the Prophet. He made it clear that such an act constituted infringement of Huqooq al-Ibad, and it was not pardonable even by God unless the owner of the property himself condescended to forgo and forgive. He accorded so much importance to this matter that he declared that a person killed while protecting his property, Maal, was a Shaheed, a martyr. Collective morality of a society is gauged by its behaviour towards its weaker sections and the way it conducts their affairs.

“The best among you is one whose attitude towards his wife is the best,” said the Prophet. “I solemnly advise you to behave well towards your women folk. They have been placed in your custody. In the name of God you have legitimized them for yourself. So fear Allah while dealing with them,” he warned.

He accorded the women an identity of their own independent of men, raised their economic status by granting them proprietary rights, established their share in inheritance, gave legal status to their free consent in various crucial and important decisions affecting their life and abolished all practices, customs and usages compromised their honour and dignity or which treated them as chattels or mere sex-objects.

“A swaleh woman was the best object after Iman, which a man could lay his hand on in this world,” the Prophet announced. He informed that rearing and bringing up daughters in a proper way was an act to be rewarded with Paradise.

Regarding the most helpless and vulnerable section of the society, that is, the orphaned children he very sternly cautioned the people who are somehow or the other involved with their affairs, to be extra cautious while dealing with them or taking decisions regarding their life or property.

Redeemer of the weaker sections

PROPHET Muhammad (Peace be upon him), whose birth anniversary is being celebrated today, revolutionized every aspect of human life and ushered in a new era in the realm of society, culture, economics and politics.

He raised the down-trodden and the teeming millions from the nadir of degradation to the apogee of culture and civilization. He redeemed millions from the thraldom of slavery and serfdom. He brought home a new concept of humanity and infused in dead souls a new spirit and virility which emboldened the Muslims to sweep away all the elements of decay, degradation and ignorance by the flowing currents of truth, social justice, equality and fraternity. He made them stand upright and steadfast and carved out big states and empires by the physical and intellectual vigour. The pursuit of intellectual research with a broad sense of duty to God and man made the Muslims what they were a few centuries ago.

What were the teachings of the Prophet of humanity which wrought such a wonderful revolution. It was Faith (Iman). He presented religion as a straight, natural law for men to follow, wherein was no perplexity or ambiguity, and he even taught that all children of men would follow the same straight way were it not for the corrupting influences of their guardians, who consciously or unconsciously set an unnatural model by their ways of life for their little folks to follow.

According to the Prophet, religion (Deen) was the natural bent of a free, unbiased mind, and man the vicegerent of Allah on earth in a real sense, inspired by his Master to know the good and refuse the evil; and only when he refused to follow the highest and the best and deliberately chose the lower and the worse road did he descend to the lowest brute.

“So devote thyself (O Muhammad) single-mindedly to the Faith (Deen), and thus follow the nature designed by Allah, the nature according to which He has fashioned mankind. There is no altering (the laws of) Allah’s creation. That is the ever-lasting Faith. But most people know not.” (30:30).

In Islam, all humanity is one vast brotherhood, with Allah as their Creator and Master who looks upon them all as equal. All the barriers, racial and other, raised against it by the self-interest of man are destroyed, and divisions on the ground of religion merely are not recognised; its teachings being directly opposed to all sectarianism and based on the broadest principles conveyed by the mode of address: “O Mankind.” Such was the Divine message which Muhammad (Peace be upon him) brought to his people, “Verily, We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that you may know one another. Verily, the most noble among you in the sight of Allah is he who is the most righteous among you. Surely, Allah is All-knowing, All-Aware.” (49:13). Be you all worshippers of Allah, become brothers to one another as Allah has commanded you.

The Glorious Quran has stated with clarity of diction the Code of Islam: “Say, O Prophet; come, let me rehearse to you that which your Lord has enjoined; that you associate not anything as partner with Him: that you behave benevolently towards your parents; that you slay not your offspring for fear of poverty, it is We Who provide for you and for them; that you approach not evil of any kind whether manifest or hidden; and that you slay not the life that Allah has declared sacred, except for just cause. That is what. He has enjoined upon you, that you may understand.

“He has also enjoined upon you that you approach not the property of the orphan during his minority, except for the most beneficent purpose and that you give full measure and weight with justice. We require not of any one that which is beyond his capacity; and that when you speak, speak justly though the person concerned be a kinsman; and that you fulfil the covenant of Allah. That is what He has enjoined upon you that you may take heed. This is My straight path; so follow it.” (6:152-153).

This was the life according to the Divine Book, and whoever deviated from this path was regarded as going astray. The Glorious Quran has termed such people as “transgressors.” “But those who do wrong follow their own lusts without knowledge.” (30:29).

The Book further states: “Verily, your Lord Knows best him who strays from His way, and He knows best him who follows guidance. To Allah belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth, that He may requite those who do evil according to that which they have wrought and that he may reward those who do good with that which is best. (53:31).

In regard to sanctity and profundity the Quran clearly expresses: “Leave alone those for whom religion is only a sport and pastime and whome worldly life has beguiled; and continue to admonish people by means of the Quran lest a soul be ruined by what it earns. It has beside Allah no helper or intercessor. If it were to offer every compensation it will not be accepted from it.” (6:70).

Islam is undoubtedly a religion of action. The service of man and the good of humanity constitute pre-eminently the service and worship of God. All creation is the family of God and of all creation the most beloved of God is he who does most good to his family.

God will not be merciful to him who is not merciful to men. The merciful God is merciful to those who are merciful; be ye then merciful to those who are in the earth, so that He who is in the heaven may be merciful to you. God is always ready to help His worshipper so long as the worshipper is ready to help his brother.

A selfless life is the ideal life of a Muslim. Being asked as to the best part of faith, Prophet Muhammad said: “That thou love for the sake of God, and hate for the sake of God, and that thou love for men what thou lovest for thyself, and hate for them what thou hates for thyself.”

“Ye shall not believe unless ye love one another.”

“He has no faith who fulfils not his trust, and he has no religion (Deen) who fulfils not his promise.”

The essence of religion is declared to be the service of afflicted humanity: “Hast thou seen him who calls religion a lie? That is the man who pushes away the orphan, and stimulates not others to feed the poor.”

And the following is conveyed to a heartless worshipper;

“And woe to those who pray, who of their prayers are unmindful, who make a show, and refuse help to the needy. Work, and work alone, is the true test of a believer in the sight of God: “Verily” those who say; Allah is our Lord, and then remain steadfast, will be subject to no fear, nor will they grieve. These are the dwellers of the Garden; they shall abide therein, a recompense for that which they did.” (46:13-14).

In Arabia, the home of poets and orators, the conception of life and God was hazy and primitive. There was no codified law for society and marriage. In the whole of Arabia there were only seventeen people who were literate and learned.

Such was the state of affairs when Muhammad was born to radiate light and culture in that dark world. It was his mission to create a new society based on equality, fraternity and social justice.

It is a miracle that within a few years he raised a nation which had fallen to the lowest concept of culture and society to the highest apogee of civilisation and enlightenment.