﴿ بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ الٓر ۚ تِلْكَ ءَايَٰتُ ٱلْكِتَٰبِ ٱلْحَكِيمِ ﴾

“Alif Lam. Ra. THESE ARE MESSAGES of the divine writ, full of wisdom.”

A prophet’s call is always based on sound and strong reasoning. Thanks to his extraordinary manner of expression, he is himself proof of his speaking on behalf of God. In spite of this, people of every period have rejected the prophets. The reason for this is man’s passion for external appearances. In the eyes of his contemporaries, a prophet is an ordinary man like other ordinary men. The glories of history, which later on become attached to his name, have not yet gathered around him. So, his contemporaries overlook him, considering him to be an ordinary man. They are unable either to look at the prophet as one deputed by God or to appreciate him in view of the history that is going to take shape in future. Yet the fact remains that everyone will be compelled to realise his prophetic greatness in due course. A prophet’s call is entirely miraculous and leaves its hearers bereft of any argument. It is quite spell-binding. Finding themselves helpless in the field of arguments, the prophet’s hearers start maligning his message. In this way they cast doubts upon the veracity of his words. Thinking like simpletons, they scorn the call as nothing but makebelieve. They call it verbal witchcraft and as such of no consequence. The real mission of a prophet is warning others (inzar) and giving good news (tabshir). That is, warning people of God’s retribution and giving good news of Paradise to those who are ready to live in the world in fear of God. The prophet appears in the world in order to make people aware of the fact that man is not free and all-powerful in this world and that the story of his life is not going to end with his death. Indeed, there is eternal life after death and man should take the utmost care to prepare for this. One who is unmindful of this or adopts an attitude of insolence, will reach the world after death in such a condition that nothing will await him there except agony and misery. One for whom outward appearance is all-important thinks that honour and glory attach to those who are in possession of worldly power, who are the possessors of worldly wealth. The Prophet says that this is deceptive; that such honour and glory exist only amongst fellow-human beings in this ephemeral worldly life. Real honour and glory are to be achieved in the eternal life in the presence of God; only such honour and glory are both real and eternal.