news to those who endure with fortitude. Those who say, when afflicted with a calamity, ‘We belong to God and to Him we shall return,’ are the ones who will have blessings and mercy from their Lord: it is

that man must adhere to the nature he is born with as given by God. He must not deviate from this divine nature. God “inspired this (divine nature) so that he might understand what was right and wrong

of conscience within every human being. This conscience is an internal sign of this divine nature. God’s prophets came to the world to make men aware of this nature, so that what exists within man at the

addressee is not a disbeliever, then the person who has made the claim will become a disbeliever in God’s eyes.” (Sahih al-Bukhari) Commenting on a similar saying of the Prophet in Sahih Muslim, Imam al-Nawawi

alhaqq) that no person from among the people of the qiblah (direction of the Kabah, the sacred house of God) shall ever be declared as kafir for any sin.” (Sharh al-Nawawi) That is, a person who prays facing

disbeliever is entirely God’s domain, it is not upon any human being to do so. Belief in or denial of religion can be truly ascertained through a person’s intention, and only God has true knowledge of one’s

accordance with their nature. Their delicate emotional constitution should always be borne in mind. God has created them that way, and He has done so for a good reason. They should be treated kindly. If

one treats them as though they were tough metal, one would break them. Difficulties are Ladders God has made difficulties the ladders to our success provided we give a positive response to them.

things are the creations of God. They all acknowledge God, but this is compulsory acknowledgement; it is not by choice. O God! I believe in Your existence without seeing You; O God! I surrender myself before

without any compulsion; O God! I admit my helplessness in the face of Your power. Exceptionally, God has created man as a free creature. Man is required to acknowledge God by his own choice. He should

should stand on the planet earth and say: “O God! I believe in Your existence without seeing You; O God! I surrender myself before You without any compulsion; O God! I admit my helplessness in the face of Your

makes it clear that the prophetic role of dawah (calling people to God) remains to be performed—that of spreading the message of God (in its pure and unadulterated form) to all mankind in the language

this role, first discovering Islam for yourselves— and then becoming da‘is (those who call people to God) in the true sense of the word. This entails imbibing the spirit of wellwishing for all mankind, so

their woes to them—as if they were the sole purveyors of these impregnable locks. But in this world of God, there is no attitude more insensate than this. Here, if we feel deprived and thwarted, it is because

—Maulana Wahiduddin Khan CALLING UPON GOD WITH HIS GREATEST NAME THE following teaching of the Prophet calls for an understanding of what is meant by calling upon God with His greatest name, which in Arabic

of the Companions of the Prophet reported that once the Prophet of Islam heard someone saying: “O God, I beseech You. All praise is for You. You are the object of worship, You have no partner. You have

model. Greatness and honour are Yours.” On hearing this, the Prophet of Islam said: “You have called God with Ism-e-Azam. When He is called out in this way, He will certainly answer your call; and when He

Instead, the revealed Book of God was made into the Prophet’s miracle: They ask: ‘Why has no sign been given him by his Lord?’ Say: ‘Signs are in the hands of God. My mission is only to give plain warning

it. No one has been able to take up this challenge and produce anything comparable to the Book of God. The languages in which all the ancient scriptures were revealed have been locked in the archives