Guidance of God is the Guidance. (2:120)

Religion of God is the very nature of Man and obedience to Law is ingrained in every fiber of him. The universe has surrendered to Law completely and everything remains in the service of God. But Man errs, rebels and breaks the Law and is, therefore, in need of heavenly guidance. Why? Let us explore its reasons and find its cure.

Need for Guidance

Universe is too vast and complex for a small creature like man living on the small earthen sphere. Starting from pre-historic days, with little intelligence, he has been learning and discovering gradually, but the whole TRUTH may unfold itself to him at the end of his journey only. Again, he appears in generations --- individuals coming one after the other, each born ignorant, learning and dying away after a few decades. The process of enhancement of knowledge is thus carried slowly. Again, although he understands that he has to labour for maintenance of his person and race, he is unable to see the high horizon – his main task – for which he was created. He may, thus, remain engaged, like animals, in baser things of life --- food, amenities and sex, and he may stick to customs wrongly. He is, therefore, in need of Higher Direction from his Creator Who appointed him His viceroy.

Is he who was dead and We gave him life, and made for him a light by which he walks among men, as one whose likeness is in the darkness from which he does not come forth. (6:123)

Natural Shortcomings of Man

Man has certain dispositions which keep him down. He is greedy, he is niggardly, he is passionate, he is boastful and he follows his desires, lusts and customs of his forefathers. These dispositions have- good uses, but they also come in the way of right path when wrongly applied.

Say, ‘even if you possessed the treasures of my Lord’s mercy you would hold them back for fear of expending, for man is indeed niggardly. (17:100)

Man is surely ungrateful to his Lord, and he is surely a witness to it, and he is surely passionate in his love of wealth. (100:6-8)

Man is created fretful; when evil visits him impatient, when good visits him grudging. (70:19-21)

If We let man taste mercy from Us, then withdraw it from him, he is desperate, ungrateful. And if We let him taste prosperity after hardship has visited him, he does say, ‘evils have gone away from me;’ he is joyous, boastful. (11:9-10)

I do not claim myself to be innocent; the self surely incites to evil except in as much as my Lord has mercy. (12:53)

The love of lusts for women, sons, heaps of gold and silver, marked horses, cattle and tillage appears handsome to men; that is the enjoyment of the present life, and with God is the best resort. (3:13)

When it is said to them, ‘follow what God has sent down,’ they say, ‘no, we will follow what we found our fathers on,’ What! Even if their fathers did not understand, nor were they guided. (2:170)

Hast thou seen him who has taken his caprice to be god, and God has let him astray in spite of knowledge, and has sealed his hearing and his hearts, and has laid covering on his sight? Who shall guide him after God? Will you not take admonition? (45:23)

Devil Deluding Man

The above shortcomings are natural and unavoidable but could be kept under control. However , the main cause of man’s deviation from Law is the devil sitting in his soul. God Almighty so determined that, while ordering all his forces to bow before man, He let loose one rebel-force (Iblis or shaitan) which comes in man’s way and urges him to commit mean things, thus putting him away from his purpose. Man then stops looking up and falls down on earth and gets involved in unending feuds for nearby happy ends, wasting time and energy and destroying his own race.

We created you, then shaped you, then said to the angels to prostrate before Adam, and they prostrated themselves except Iblis;; he was not among those who prostrated. God said, ‘What prevented thee from prostrating thyself, when I commanded thee,’ He said, ‘I am better than he; Thou createdst me from fire and createdst him from clay.’ God said, ‘get thee down out of it; it is not for thee to be arrogant here, so go forth ,thou art humbled.’ He said, ‘respite me till the day they shall be raised.’ God said, ‘thou are among the respited.’ He said, ‘for thy perverting me, I shall sit for them on thy Straight Path, then I shall come to them from before them and from behind them, from their right and from their left, and Thou shalt not find most of them thankful.’ God said, ‘go out from here despised and banished; those of them that follow thee, I shall fill Hell with all of you.’ – ‘And O Adam, dwell thou and thy wife in the garden and eat of where you will, but do not go near this tree lest you be among the wrong- doors.’ Then the Devil whispered to them so as to reveal to them what was kept hidden from them out of their shameful parts. He said, ‘your Lord has prohibited you from this tree lest you become angels or be among the immortals.’ And he swore to them, ‘I am surely among your well-wishers.’ So he led them on by delusion; and when they tasted the tree, their shameful parts became apparent to them and they took to stitching upon themselves leaves of the garden. And their Lord called to them, ‘did I not prohibit you form this tree and say to you that the Devil is for you a manifest foe?’ They said, ‘our Lord, we have wronged ourselves, and if Thou does not forgive us, we shall surely be among the losers.’ He said, ‘get you down as enemy one to the other, and for you shall be on the earth an abode and goods for a time.’ ‘He also said, '‘there you shall live, and there you shall die, and therefrom you shall be brought forth.’ (7:11-25)

Guidance Provided through Messengers

The Merciful God, the Prime Guide, the Light of the universe, helped man in many ways. First of all, He kept the guide-line right in his soul.

He has inspired to every soul its lewdness and its virtue. (91:9)

When thy Lord took from the children of Adam their offspring from their backs, and made them testify on themselves, ‘am I not your Lord,’ they said, ‘yes, we testify.’ (This was) lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection, ‘we were unaware of this’ or lest you say ‘our fathers were idolaters aforetime, and we were offspring after them. Wilt Thou destroy us for what the vain-doers did?’ (7:172-173)

But the call of instinct was not a sufficient check. God sent regular Envoys to all people in all ages to undertake the task of guidance, so that after the Messengers, mankind could not have any excuse for not knowing the Straight Path.

We raised in every community a Messenger to say, ‘serve God and avoid the idols;’ then God guided some of them, but some of them were disposed to go astray. Now journey in the land and see how was the end of those who cried lies. (16:36)

We sent Our Messengers with clear signs, and We sent down with them the Book and the Balance so that mankind might stand on justice. (57:25)

We have revealed to thee as We revealed to Noah and the Prophets after him, and We revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, the tribes, Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon, and We gave to David Psalms; and Messengers We have not told thee of; and unto Moses God spoke directly – Messengers giving good news and warning so that mankind might have no argument against God after the Messengers; and God is surely Mighty, Wise. (4:163-165)

Same Law for All

Mankind was created on a definite Law and the same One Law was revealed to all the Messengers in all ages. This is why the basic teachings in all the religions are the same. They only differ in rituals and forms but the rituals do not matter as long as the Law and the purpose remain the same.

He has laid down for you the Religion (Law) with which He charged Noah, and which We have revealed to thee, and with which We charged Abraham, Moses and Jesus--- ‘establish the Religion and be not divided on it.’ Hard on the idolaters is to what thou callest them. God chooses to Himself whom He will, and guides to Himself who attends. And they divided not but after the knowledge had come to them, due to rebellion among them. And if a Word had not gone forth from thy Lord until a stated term, it would have been decided between them. And those who inherited the Book after them are in a disquieting doubt about it. For this, then do thou call, and stand firm as thou hast been commanded, and follow not their caprices, and say, ‘I have been commanded to do justice between you. God is our Lord and your Lord; for us are our deeds and for you are your deeds; there is no argument between us and you. God may bring us together; and to Him is the ultimate abode. (42:13-15)

Believe in All Messengers

As all the Messengers brought the same ONE Message from ONE God, we should believe in all of them equally. We should also believe in all the Books of God, in principle. Messengers were only vehicles and torch-bearers; the objective was that Law should be followed and man should remain in the service of God, their ONLY Master. Division of mankind in various sects in the name of Messengers who came to guide towards the same one purpose, unity, peace and prosperity, is not only absurd but an insult to their noble names.

Those who disbelieve in God and His Messengers and desire to make division between God and His Messengers and say, ‘we believe in some and disbelieve in others and want to take a way in between, they are the unbelievers in truth, and We have prepared for such unbelievers a humiliating punishment. (4:150-151)

Those who divided their religion and became sects, thou art not of them at all; their affair is only unto God, and He will tell them what they have been doing. (6:160)

It is not for a mortal that God should give him the Book, the Authority and the Prophethood, and he should say to men, ‘be my servants besides God,’ but (he will say) ‘be servants of the Lord as you teach the Book and as you study it.’ Nor would he order you to take angels and prophets as lords; would he order you to disbelieve after you have surrendered. (3:79-80)

They have taken their priests and their monks and Messiah, son of Mary, lords apart from God, though they were commanded to serve only one God. (9:31)

Quran is the Last Complete Message

God’s Message though unchanging and essentially the same for all communities was, however, limited to the requirements and capabilities of communities of olden times. For instance, Christ came to revive the Jews by explaining to them the wisdom hidden in Law and thereby convincing them to adopt Law and be entitled to the kingdom of God. They rejected him and met the fate of disbelieving nations viz, destruction of Jews and the Temple and their dispersal. With the advancement of man to maturity of understanding and sense of responsibility, man was able to receive the Complete Message.

This Message was revealed in the words of the Quran (the Reading) to Muhammad (may God bless him). It confirmed the truth of all the Messengers and declared that all of them had brought One and the same Book (Law) from God. Their Books were, however, lost, forgotten or polluted by dishonest human interference with the passage of time, so a fresh incorruptible message was needed to replace them.

Woe to those who write the book with their hands, then say, ‘this is from God’ that they may sell it for a little price. (2:79)

They change the words from their places and have forgotten a portion of what they were reminded of. (5:13)

The Quran claims to be a Book for whole of mankind, a Book which is well-explained, simple, incorruptible and preserved, which stands a guard to Divine Law. It throws challenge (which remains unanswered to this day) that even if all men got together, they would not produce a writing like the Quran.

Praise belongs to God Who sent down on His servant the Book and made no crookedness in it. (18:1)

It is surely a dominating Book to which falsehood cannot enter from before nor from behind. (41:41-42)

We have sent down to thee the Book with the truth, confirming what out of the Book was before it, and a guard over it. (5:48)

It is not a forged story but a confirmation of what was before it, and a detailed exposition of all things, and a guidance and a mercy to a people who believe. (12:111)

It is not but a Reminder for the whole world. (12:104)

It is We Who have sent down the Reminder and we shall be surely guarding it. (15:9)

Such claims are substantiated by having a glance at the Quran and existing Books of other religions.

The recording of the Quran was arranged by Muhammad himself (may God bless him). It was and continues to be committed to memory by millions of people. Its editions of today and those written centuries before are exactly the same to the last detail of a vowel. It is in a living language (Arabic) which had reached its full development at the time of the revelation of the Quran and which has the capability to live through all times. It can thus be exactly known what each word of the Quran means. On the other hand, other religions do not possess any book which they may claim to have been given to them exclusively by the founders of their religions. Their existing Books do contain the Divine Message but mixed up with human notes. The original editions of such books in the language of their authors are lost. The languages in which they were revealed are dead so that their meaning even if the original was found out could not be defined with precision.

The only things to guide men after the demise of its founder could be the Message he leaves behind him. No monks or priests or so-called apostles could ever take its place. It was the Message for which the Messenger was sent. When the Message disappeared, wholly or partly, and the priests with their lusts, took over the field as the sole holders and interpreters of law, they, without Divine inspiration, turned the Religion into a formality and a mockery. These self-styled persons threw away the principles and unduly stressed forms, rituals and personalities. They have torn humanity into warring factions. They have, in fact, made the earth a real Hell.

Come to the Quran

In view of the above facts, man cannot know the Religion of God, His Established, Unchanging Law, merely through instinct and intelligence. People need to follow the Book of God to lead a rightful life, and it is imperative to turn to the Great Quran, the only Book of God that remains in its original words in a living language.

O mankind, there has come to you an admonition from your Lord, a cure for what is in the breasts, and a guidance and a mercy for the Believers. (10:57)

We have sent down to thee clear signs, and none denies them except the transgressors. (2:99)

No, I swear by the setting of the stars, and it is indeed a mighty oath if you knew, it is surely a Noble Reading (Quran) in a Book covered over; none but the purified touch it; it is a sending down from the Lord of the World. Now such a discourse, will you disdain and make it your living that you cry lies. (56:75-82)

My mercy encompasses all things. And I shall prescribe it for those who fear God and pay the Due-Alms and those who believe in our Signs; those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find written down with them in the Torah and the Gospel, who bids them to the Desirable, forbids them the Dejected, makes good things lawful for them, and makes bad things unlawful, and relieves them of their loads and fetters that are upon them. So those who believe in him, support him, help him, and follow the Light sent down with him; those alone shall succeed. (7:156-157)

Say, ‘O mankind, I am the Messenger of God to you all, of Him to Whom belongs the kingdom of the heavens and earth; there is no god but He; He gives life and death; so believe in God and His Words, and follow him, that you may find the right path. (7:158)

It is He Who sent His Messenger with Guidance and the Religion of Truth, that He may make it prevail over all the Religions, how averse the idolaters be. (9:33)