T h e Ess e n ce o f Re lig i o n
23
W
itness to
T
ruth
Our responsibility towards non-Muslims is to bring the truth to
them in the form of the message of Islam. God’s message must
reach all His creatures, so that none may say in the Hereafter that
he was left in a state of unawareness of the truth.
Man has been placed in this world so that he may be tested. The
Quran says: “He created life and death that He might put you to
the test and find out which of you acquitted himself best. He is the
Mighty, the Forgiving one” (67:2).
This is a very serious situation, for it means that man’s end in
the hereafter will depend on his attitude in his worldly life, his end
being eitherHeavenor eternalHell.Owing to the seriousness of the
situation, God made two special arrangements to warn mankind.
First, He gave everyone the ability to discriminate between right
and wrong. “And inspired it (man’s soul) with knowledge of right
and wrong.” (91:8).
This consciousness of Truth was instilled into man’s nature on
the very first day of creation:
When your Lord brought forth descendants from the loins of
Adam’s children, and made them testify themselves, (He said): ‘Am
I not your Lord?’ They replied: ‘We bear witness thatYou are.’ This
He did lest you should say on the Day of Ressurrection: ‘We had no
knowledge of that’ (7:172).
Then after this initial measure at the level of nature He sent to
mankind a series of prophets, so that a knowledge of reality might
be conveyed to every man by a human being who had been chosen
by God for this purpose. These prophets were “messengers who
brought good news to mankind and admonished them, so that
they might have no plea against God after their coming.” (4:165).
This chain of prophets started with the beginning of life.
Adam was not only the first man but also the first prophet. In the
seventh century
a
.
d
., God wil l ed that the chain of prophethood
be terminated. Muhammad, on him be peace, was the last of
God’s messengers. But so far as the delivering of God’s message is
