The Holy Quran

Supplement 2

Emphasizing the Ownership of Allah on the Day of Judgement has this effect, too, that it stands against the disbelief of disbelievers in the Hereafter. It is understood from the verses of the Holy Qur'an that Faith in Allah has been a common belief even among disbelievers in the Age of Ignorance.

Sura Luqman, No. 31, verse 25 says about them: " If thou ask them, who it is that created the heavens and the earth, they will certainly say: Allah '...", while they did not accept the speech of the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) about the Resurrection: " The Unbelievers say (in ridicule): Shall we point to you a man that will tell you, when ye are all scattered to pieces in disintegration, that ye shall (then be raised) in a New creation ? " " Has he invented a falsehood against Allah, or has a spirit (seized) him ?...", (Sura Saba, No. 34, verses 7,8).

A tradition about Imam Sajjad (a.s.) says: " When Ali-ibn-il-Husayn (a.s.) began reciting Master of the Day of Judgement', he repeated it so many times that he was at the point of losing his life ". (24) The phrase / yaum-id-din /, is repeated more than ten times in the Qur'an, exclusively with the meaning of the Hereafter': " And what makes you know what the Day of Reckoning is ? " " Again, what makes you know what the Day of Reckoning is ? " " The Day on which no soul shall have aught for (another) soul, and the command that Day shall be (wholly) Allah's ", (Sura Al-Infitar, No. 82, verses 17-19).

The phrase /yaum-id-din/ is used in the sense of the Day of Judgement ', for That Day ' is the day of rewards; and /din/ in Arabic philology means: reward, recompense'. The most evident procedure fulfilled in the Hereafter is the procedure of paying rewards or inflicting punishments. On That Day, the curtains will be removed and the deeds of all will be reckoned, precisely, and everyone shall reap the fruit of his own actions, be they good or evil.

Imam Sadiq (a.s.) said in a tradition that the Day of Judgement is The Reckoning Day '. (25) It is also noteworthy to mention that some commentators believe that Resurrection' is called /yaum-ud-din/ because on That Day,everyone is recompensed for his own religion, if he has followed it accordingly.

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" Thee (alone) do we worship and of Thee (only) do we seek help." Commentary : Man in the Presence of Allah Here, this verse is a start for a servant to plea and ask his needs from Allah. In fact, from here on, the tone of the statements changes.

The former verses were the praise and attributes of Allah, and the statement of Faith in His Pure Unity, consisting of a confession to the belief in the Day of Resurrection. But, from this verse on, it seems that the servant, with that firm foundation of Belief in the knowledge of Allah, sees himself in front of Him, the Pure Essence. He addresses Him and speaks, firstly, about his own worship for Him and, then, about His help which he seeks from Him. Thus he says:

" Thee (alone) do we worship and of Thee (only) do we seek help." In other words, when the concepts of the former verses settle in one's soul, and his entire entity is enlightened with the Light of Allah, the Cherisher of the Worlds, and when he recognizes His General Mercy ' and Specific Mercy ', the individual transforms into a complete person from the point of belief ' and Faith '.

The prime fruit of this deep belief in monotheism, for a person, in one respect, is to be a pure true servant of Allah, free from any idol and idolatry, far from tyrants and lusts; and, on the other hand, to seek help only from His Pure Essence.

In fact, the former verses state the Unity of Essence and Attributes, while, here, the statement is regarding the Unity of Worship and Unity of Acts.

Unity of Worship ' means that we acknowledge no person or thing worthy of worship other than Allah, Whose commands alone do we obey and Whose laws only do we follow, avoiding any kind of servitude and submission to other than Him, the Pure Essence.

Unity of Acts ' means that we clearly recognize Him as the only real Author of Causes ' in the world. It does not mean that we would refuse the world of cause ' and be neglectful of searching for the causes of things, but it means that we would believe that any effect from any cause is under His command. It is He Who has given heat to fire, light to the sun, and vivacity to water.

The outcome of this belief is that one relies on Allah alone, and knows that all authority and power are His only. In his view, other than Him is powerless, mortal and perishable.

Allah is the only Essence to be relied on and worshipped. It is only He Who is deserving of man's reliance for everything.

This kind of thought and belief sets man apart from any one or any thing else and joins him only to Allah. He obeys Allah even when he pursues after the world of ways and means ', i.e. he sees the Power of Allah, the Cause of causes, in control of the means.

This belief elevates the soul of man so high and the scope of his thought so broad that it reaches eternity and becomes free from any limited circumstances, in so far as, Hadrat Amir-ul-Mu'mineen, the Master of the Virtuous, Ali (a.s.), regarding Allah, says: " I worship you neither for the fear of the Fire (of Your Hell) nor for the desire of Your Paradise, but I found You fit for worshipping and I worshipped You."

(26) Explanation : Allah : the Only Site of Reliance According to the Arabic literature, when the object of the verb precedes its subject, in that language, the meaning of exclusiveness is understood, and, here, the word / iyyaka / Thou ' has preceded the words / nabud / we worship' and / nastain / we seek help ' which indicates exclusiveness in which its result is the very Unity of Worship and Unity of Acts that were explained before. Even in our own worship, we need His help for which we must ask Him. We may be involved in self-conceit, deviation, hypocrisy and similar things, which destroy our worshipping and servitude totally. Then, in all affairs and activities, our full attention should be exclusively on Allah, the Exalted.

In other words, this, in itself, is one of the stages of monotheism, a high stage of it, which is rendered into monotheism in speculation'. That is, one should always and in all circumstances, think of Allah only. He should rely exclusively on Allah. He should fear nothing but Allah; and he should trust Allah only. He should see nothing save Allah; he should want nothing save Allah; and he should love none save Allah. As the Qur'an says: " Allah has not made for any man two hearts in his (one) body... ", (Sura Al-Ahzab, No. 33, verse 4).

The Social Aspect of Worship The pronoun we', which is in the plural form, used in terms / nabud / we worship ' and / nastain / we seek help ', and in the next verses, shows that worship, especially prayer, is based on plural' and community.

The servant must consider himself among the community even when he is standing in front of Allah for invocation, much less during his other daily activities.

Thus, from the point of view of the Qur'an, any individualism, solitariness, and the like are not accepted in Islam. Particularly, the ritual prayer, from the prayer call: /hayya alas-salat/ hasten to the prayer', which is an invitation to initiate prayer, to Sura Al-Hamd at the beginning of the prayer, and the term /assalamu alaykum.../ peace be on you all...' at the end of the prayer, all are statements of verification to the concept that this worship basically has a social aspect; viz,it ought to be performed as a congregational prayer.

It is true that the prayer performed individually is also accepted in Islam, but personal worship is considered as the secondary degree. We Ask Allah for Help in Confronting Forces We have to confront different forces in this world, both the forces in nature and our innate, or inborn natural forces. To be able to challenge with these destructive, misleading factors, we need to be helped. Hence, we shelter under the protective umbrella of Allah.

We get up every morning and repeat the verse / ' iyyaka nabudu wa ' iyyaka nastain / (Thee (alone) do we worship and of Thee (only) we seek help) to confess our servitude to Allah and to ask His Pure Essence help to make us successful in this great challenge. We do the same in the evening before we go to bed. We get up in the morning with His remembrance, and we go to bed in the evening with His remembrance, and each time we ask help from His Pure Essence. What an excellent state this is for the person who is in this stage of Faith! He never bows to any tyrant. He never loses himself for the attraction of material gain, and as the Qur'an reveals about the Prophet of Islam (p.b.u.h.), saying:

"... Truly, my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death, are (all) for the Cherisher of the Worlds ", (Sura Al-Anam No. 6, verse 162).

Therefore, the recitation of this Holy Sura may provide the solution to all problems in our lives. It has plenty of properties which can bring us to safety. An example is from a narration cited by one of the companions of the Prophet (p.b.u.h.). He said that in one of the battles, he was with the Messenger of Allah (p.b.u.h.).

When the fight became difficult, he (p.b.u.h.) lifted his head and said: " O' Master of the Day of Judgement! Thee (alone) do we worship and of Thee (only) we seek help ". At that moment the army of enemies was defeated and (many of them) were killed while the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) and Muslims won.(27) It is stated in another narration: " When a difficulty arises for a believing servant, and he recites this Holy verse, it will become easy for him". (28)

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" Guide us (O' Lord) on the Straight Path." Commentary : After confessing his obedience and servitude to Allah, reaching the state of worship, and asking for help from Him, the first thing that the servant seeks is His guidance to the Straight Path ', the path of the righteous, the path of Justice, and the path of Faith and good deeds.

So, he asks the Lord, Who has bestowed on him all of these bounties, to give him the bounty of guidance', too.

Such a man, in the above stated condition, is a believing one who is acquainted with the Lordship of his Lord, but it is possible, too, that suddenly he would cease to receive this bounty because of some component of wickedness, and, consequently, he would stray from the Right Path. Therefore, he must ask his Lord, at least ten times a day, to protect him from any kind of aberration.

Moreover, this Straight Path ', which is the very Divine creed, has some stages. All people are not on the same level of spiritual preparedness necessary for attaining these stages. Whatever stages a person attains, there are still some higher stages above them that a believing servant might ask Allah to guide him to reach.

Here, a question arises: " Why must we always ask Allah for guidance to the Straight Path', as if we are being misguided ? ".

Besides, supposing the statement is true about us, the ordinary believers, but what about the holy Prophet and sinless Imams (p.b.u.th.) who were the examples of complete human beings ? In answer to this question, we may say :

Firstly, the fact is that Man is liable to deviate from the Right Path with each step that he takes as he is walking along the path of guidance. So, he should rely on Allah and ask Him to keep him firm on the Straight Path'.

We must not forget that our existence, our being, and all the bounties which always come to us, are from His Origin. To clarify the matter, we cite a simple example :

All creatures, including human beings, (from one point of view) resemble an electric lamp. We see that the light of a lamp, when it is on, appears to be constant and monotonous. The reason is that the electrical current flows constantly from a generator to the lamp. The generator continuously produces some new electrical power, a part of which reaches the lamp by some connective wires. Our being is similar to the lamp.

Although it appears as a sustained being, it is, in fact, a continually renewed being that flows ceaselessly to us from the Original Being, the Bountiful Creator.

Therefore, as the continually new being reaches us, we need constant new guidance, too. It is natural that if something wrong or some barriers manifest themselves in our spiritual connective wires with Allah; the vices, injustice, wrong doings, etc., will disrupt our connection with the Origin of guidance. At that moment, we may deviate from the Straight Path '.

We ask Allah that these barriers be removed and not obstruct our way that we may remain steadfast along the Straight Path '. Secondly, receiving guidance' is the same as travelling the path of development' along which man can gradually promote from lower degrees to higher and higher ones.

We also know that the path of development is endless and continues towards infinity'.

So, it is no wonder that even the prophets and sinless Imams (p.b.u.th.) ask Allah to guide them to the Straight Path ', because the Absolute Perfection is Allah and all of us, without any exception, are on the path of perfection, then it is acceptable that they, too, ask Him for higher promotions.