Page 121 - The Vision of Islam
P. 121

The Vision of Isla m

          who repent and mend their ways and make known the truth, I will
          certainly accept their repentance. I am the Ever-Relenting, the
          Most Merciful.” (2:159-60)
             If God’s will is what He has expressed in His Book, the Quran,
          it can be concluded without doubt that if Muslims individually do
          not reform themselves, and do not ask for forgiveness from God
          and fail to communicate God’s religion to non-Muslims—to their
          own compatriots as well as to people at the global level—they will
          not be able to escape divine retribution, even if they continue to
          worship day and night and never miss their additional morning
          afternoon prayers. The notion that the way to heaven does not
          pass through God’s creatures is highly erroneous. It should be
          clearly understood that the gates of heaven cannot be opened to us
          unless we have tried our best—even at the risk of undergoing the
          most undesirable trials—to close the doors of hell to the millions
          of non-believers who live around us.
             As we learn from the Quran regarding the prophets and their
          followers:
             Do you think that you will enter Paradise without having
          suffered like those who passed away before you? Affliction and
          hardship befell them and so shaken were they that the Messenger
          and  the  believers  would  exclaim,  ‘When  will  God’s  help  come?’
          (2:214)
             The following has been stated in the Quran in the words of the
          Prophet: ‘This Quran has been revealed to me so that through it I
          may warn you and whoever it reaches.’ (6:19)
             Those who shall warn the people of the Day of Judgement in
          this world, will stand as God’s witnesses against them ‘on that Day’
          (40:51). Now the question arises as to who today stands witness to
          the peoples of the world, so that he may, as a follower of the Final
          Prophet, bear witness in the Divine Court that he had warned the
          people of the reality of life. Is there any group in the whole Islamic
          world which can be said to be performing the task of warning the
          nations of the world? If this is not the case, then does it mean that
          God has dispensed with the sending of His witnesses to the nations
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