Page:Maulana Muhammad Ali Quran.djvu/7

Rh the blessings of God be upon him, is called the "Seal of the Prophets" (33:40), and the Holy Qur-án is spoken of as "Pure pages wherein are all the right Books" (98:2-3).

A historical religion.

I wish to notice one more peculiarity of Islam. Islam is beyond all doubt a historical religion and its holy founder a historical personage. Every event of the Holy Prophet's life can be read in the light of history, and the Holy Qur-án, which is the source of all the spiritual, moral, and social laws of Islam, is, as shown later on, a book absolutely unique in its preservation. Having a book of divine revelation so safely preserved through centuries to guide him for his spiritual and moral welfare, and the example of such a great and noble Prophet, whose varied earthly experiences furnish the best rules of conduct in all the different phases of human life, a Muslim is sure that he has not rejected any truth which was ever revealed by God to any nation, and that he has not set at naught any good which was to be met with in the life of any good man. He thus not only believes in the truth of all Divine revelations and accepts the sacred leaders of all peoples, but also follows all the lasting and permanent truths contained in them by following the last and most comprehensive of them, and imitates all good men in all the good that is to be met with in their lives by taking for his model the most perfect exemplar.

The fundamental principles of Islam.

The main principles of Islam are given in the very beginning of the Holy Qur-án, which opens with the words: "This book, there is no doubt in it, is a guide to those who guard against evil; those who believe in the unseen and keep up prayer and spend benevolently out of what We have given them; and who believe in that which has been revealed to you and that which was revealed before you; and they are sure of the hereafter" (2:2-4). These verses point out the essential principles which must be accepted by those who would follow the Holy Qur-án. Here we have three main points of belief and two main points of practice, or three theoretical and two practical ordinances. Before I take up these points separately, I think it necessary to point out, as is indicated in this verse, that in Islam mere belief counts for nothing if not carried into practice: "Those who believe and do good" is the ever-recurring description of the righteous as given in the Qur-án. Right belief is the good seed which can only grow into a good tree if it receives nourishment from the soil in which it is placed. That nourishment is given by good deeds. Another point necessary to be borne in mind in connection with the five principles of belief and practice mentioned in the verses quoted above is that they are, in one form or another, universally accepted by the human race. The five principles, as already indicated, are a belief in God, the great Unseen, in Divine revelation and in the life to come, and, on the practical side, prayer to god, which is the source from which springs the love of God, and charity in its broadest sense, indicating respectively the performance of our duties to God and the performance of our duties to man and other creatures of God. Now, these