Friday Nasiha

Since the time it was revealed, Allah has preserved the Quran in the hearts of the people and in writing. It had been committed to memory by the Companions and by every generation that came after them. The care paid by the Muslims in accurately recording and memorizing the Quran has been phenomenal. Every letter and vowel mark indicating every mode of reciting the Quran has been preserved without the least addition or subtraction.

Al-Qurtubi and some other scholars of Quranic commentary mention an interesting story regarding the preservation of the Quran:

The Caliph al-Mamun used to arrange intellectual gatherings. One of these meetings was attended by a man wearing beautiful clothing, possessing a handsome face, and followed by a sweet fragrance. He spoke in a most eloquent manner. When the meeting was adjourned, al-Mamun summoned this man and asked him: “Are you from the Israelites?” He replied that he was. Al-Mamun said: “Accept Islam and I shall arrange good things for you.” Al-Mamun made him a number of promises.

The man merely replied “My religion and the religion of my forefathers” and went away. A year later, he returned as a Muslim. He spoke about matters of Islamic Law in a most proficient manner. When the meeting was adjourned, al-Mamun again summoned him and said: “Are you not the man who was with us before?” He replied that he was. Al- Mamun then asked him what had prompted him to accept Islam.

He replied: “When I left your presence, I wished to put these religions to the test. And you indeed regard me a man of keen intellect. So I turned my attention to the Torah. I produced three copies of it, each time adding and deleting some things from it. Then I took these copies to the place of prayer and they were purchased from me.

“I then turned my attention to the Gospel and drafted three copies of it, each time adding and deleting some things from it. Then I took these copies to the church and they were purchased from me.

“I then turned my attention to the Quran and drafted three copies of it, each time adding and deleting some things from it. Then I took these copies to the copyists and they skimmed through them. When they found the additions and deletions that I had made, they threw them aside and did not purchase them. So I came to know that this is a protected book, and this is the reason that I accepted Islam.”

Unravelling of the Knot of Human Destiny

Every section of society and every aspect of civilization at the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) advent demanded the undivided attention of a reformer. An ordinary reformer, acting according to his own lights, without Prophetic Inspiration and Divine Guidance, might have concentrated all his energies on correcting a single social pathological condition and even then might not have succeeded. Human nature is a complicated affair, abounding in labyrinths and mysterious back-doors, and once it gets misguided or deflected from its natural course, it cannot be given a new lease of life by removing one defect only. It required a complete overhauling, a thorough re-conditioning. If the plant of Godliness was to thrive on human soil, the entire undergrowth of ungodliness had first to be wedded out. There was no other way out.

The correction of a single moral defect of human society calls for the dedication of the whole life of a reformer. Sometimes large numbers of men spend their lifetimes in combating a moral fault or a social abuse without being rewarded with any measure of success. Take, for example, the evil of drinking. When this habit becomes widespread in a nation, its roots go deep into the collective sub-conscious, and a whole army of sensuous delights gets arrayed behind it. Can this evil be overcome by mere moral exhortation or by punitive legislation alone? No; only a fundamental psychological change, a radical change in the social and moral outlook of the society as a whole can eradicate it. Any other course will only drive it underground and make it more pernicious.

The Last Prophet (peace be upon him) was not one of those reformers who content themselves with striving against a few moral abuses of their age and succeed in eradicating them for the time being, or depart from the world without having accomplished anything at all. He applied the right key to the problem of human nature. It was the problem which had defied solution at the hands of all reformers before him. He began by entreating men to believe in God and to bring down all false gods from the pedestal of Divinity. “O People”, he declared, “say, ‘there is no god but the One God’ and you shall prosper.”

Source:
"Islam and the World" – by Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi, pp. 47-49