Part 35

The previous verses prove that the aim of creation is to remember Allah and be grateful to Him; remembrance without forgetfulness, and gratefulness without disbelief. Allah, the Exalted, remembers the one who remembers Him, and He is grateful to the one, who is grateful to Him. So remembering Allah is the reason behind Allah's remembrance and being grateful to Allah is the reason behind increasing the blessings of Allah.

In brief, remembering Allah should be done with both the tongue and the heart. However, being grateful to Allah is done out of love and repentance from the heart, and out of praise and glorification from the tongue, and out of obedience and servitude from the body.

Chapter: Guidance Leads to More Guidance and Aberration Leads to More Aberration

It has been repeated in the Qur'an that deeds that are performed in the hearts and the body are the cause of guidance and aberration. Therefore, deeds that are done in the hearts and the body require guidance, just like the way an effect is attached to a cause, and the same thing applies to aberration. So righteous deeds produce guidance, and whenever there is an increase in them, there would be an increase in guidance. When evil deeds are performed, they will increase. That is because Allah, the Almighty loves righteous

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deeds and that is why He rewards them with guidance and success. And He hates evil deeds, so He rewards them with aberration and distress.

Also, because He loves righteous deeds and righteous people, He brings their hearts close to Him according to the amount of righteous deeds they perform. And because He hates evil deeds and evil people, He keeps their hearts far away from Him according to the degree of evil that they are guilty of.

According to the first principle, Allah, the Almighty said,

Alif-Lam-Mim. [These letters are one of the miracles of the Qur'an and none but Allah (Alone) knows their meanings]. This is the Book (the Qur'an), whereof there is no doubt, a guidance to those who are A/-Muttaqdn [the pious and righteous persons who fear Allah much (abstain from all kinds of sins and evil deeds which He has forbidden) and love Allah much (perform all kinds of good deeds which He has ordained)].” (Al-Baqarah,

This contains two instructions:

Instruction One is that He guides the person who abstains from prohibited things that cause His Displeasure for it is known by all people that Allah, the Almighty hates oppression, adultery, mischief on the earth, and that He hates those who do these deeds. In the same way, He loves justice, kindness, generosity, truthfulness and spreading goodness on earth, and He loves those, who do these deeds. When the Book was revealed, Allah, the Almighty rewarded the righteous people by making it easy for them to believe in it as an act of recompense to them for their righteous deeds and obedience. And He forsook the evil oppressors by coming in between them and guidance.

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The Stages of Guidance

Instruction Two is that after the servant believes in the Book, and is guided by it in general, accepts its orders and believes in what it contains, there would be more guidance for that servant, for there is no end to guidance, regardless of how far the servant reaches; there would always be above him guidance upon guidance, and after that guidance more guidance. Whenever the servant fears his Lord, he would receive more guidance, and he would always be increased _ in guidance as long as he fears Allah, the Almighty. And whenever he neglects a chance to be pious, he would be missing a chance to receive guidance, and whenever he fears Allah, the Almighty his guidance would increase, and whenever he accepts guidance, his piety would increase. To illustrate this fact, consider the following verses from the Glorious Qur'an,

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which means, “Now has come to you Our Messenger (Muhammad) explaining to you much of that which you used to hide from the Scripture and passing over (i.e. leaving out without explaining) much. Indeed, there has come to you from Allah a light (Prophet Muhammad) and a plain Book (this Qur'an).” (Al-Ma'idah, 5:15-16)

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which means, “Allah chooses for Himself whom He wills, and guides unto Himself who turns to Him in repentance and in obedience.” (As-Shara, 42:13)

And Allah, the Almighty said,

which means, “The reminder will be received by him who fears

And He, the Exalted said,

which means, “And none remembers but those who turn (to Allah) in obedience and in repentance (by begging His Pardon and by worshipping and obeying Him Alone and none else).” (Ghafir, 40:13)

And He, the Exalted said,

which means, “Verily, those who believe [in the Oneness of Allah along with the six articles of Faith, i.e. to believe in Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers, Day of Resurrection, and Al-Qadar (Divine Preordainments) - Islamic Monotheism], and do deeds of righteousness, their Lord will guide them through their Faith.” (YGnus, 10:9)

First, He guided them to faith, and then when they accepted that guidance and believed in it, He rewarded them by guiding them to more faith as an act of guidance after guidance. The likeness of this is in the following verses of the Glorious Qur'an,

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which means, “And Allah increases in guidance those who walk aright [true believers in the Oneness of Allah who fear Allah much (abstain from all kinds of sins and evil deeds which He has forbidden), and love Allah much (perform all kinds of good deeds which He has ordained)}.” (Maryam, 19:76)

Allah, the Almighty also said,

which means, “O you who believe! If you obey and fear Allah, He will grant you Furqgan a criterion [(to judge between right and wrong), or (Makhraj, i.e. making a way for you to get out from every difficulty)].” (Al-Anfal, 8:29)

As a part of this criterion, is that Allah, the Almighty grants them some light, with which they can differentiate between truth and falsehood, and He also grants them victory and glory that enable them to establish truth and destroy falsehood. The Qur’an has commented on this point. Allah, the Almighty said,

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which means, “Verily, in this is a sign for every faithful believer that [believes in the Oneness of Allah], and turns to Allah (in all affairs with humility and in repentance).” (Saba’, 34:9)

He, the Almighty said,

which means, “Verily, in this are indeed signs for every steadfast grateful (person).” (Saba’, 34:19)

This is in Chapters Luqman, Ibrahim, Saba’ and As-Shira.

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He revealed these verses to benefit those who have patience and are grateful. Just as He revealed His Glorious Quranic verses to benefit the pious, those, who fear Allah and return to Him in repentance, those whose intentions are to seek His Pleasure, and that it is only observed by those who fear Allah, the Almighty. Allah, the Almighty said in the Qur’an,

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which means, “TaHa These letters are one of the miracles of the Qur'an, and none but Allah (Alone) knows their meanings.] We have not sent down the Qur'an unto you (O Muhammad) to cause you distress, but only as a Reminder to those who fear

He, the Almighty also said about the Hour,

which means, “You (O Muhammad) are only a warner for those who fear it.” (An-Nazi’at, 79:45)

If someone does not believe in it, and does not hope for it or fear it, the Qur’anic Verses will not benefit him. That is why Allah, the Almighty mentioned the punishment of the nations who falsely denied the Messengers and that which happened to them. He said,

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who fear the torment of the Hereafter.” (HGd, 11:103)

He mentioned that there is a lesson for those who fear the torment of the Hereafter in His punishment of those who reject faith.

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it would not be a lesson for the person who does not believe in

it and does not fear its torment. That is why when such a person hears its verses, he says, “There is still good and bad in the world. There is comfort and distress, happiness and unhappiness.” And they may attribute that to astronomic and psychological causes. But in reality, it was due to the patience and gratefulness of the person concerned.

Faith is founded on both patience and gratefulness. Therefore, the servant's faith will be strong according to his patience and gratefulness. The verses of Allah will only benefit those who believe in Him and His verses, and faith is granted through patience and gratefulness. The main part of gratefulness is monotheism, and the main part of patience is not to yield to vain desires. If the person is a polytheist who follows his vain desires, he would not be patient or grateful, therefore, the verses would neither be beneficial for him nor be a means of him being granted faith.

The second principle is the consistency of evil, arrogance and falsehood along with aberrance; and there are many examples of that in the Qur'an, like the following verses,

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which means, “By it He misleads many, and many He guides thereby. And He misleads thereby only those who are AlF&siqan (the rebellious, disobedient to Allah). Those who break Allah's Covenant after ratifying it, and sever what Allah has ordered to be joined (as regards Allah's Religion of Islamic

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Monotheism, and to practice its legal laws on the earth and also as regards keeping good relations with kith and kin), and do mischief on earth, it is they who are the losers.” (Al-Bagarah,

Allah, the Almighty also said,

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which means, “Allah will keep firm those who believe, with the word that stands firm in this world (ie. they will keep on worshipping Allah Alone and none else), and in the Hereafter. And Allah will cause to go astray those who are Zhdalimdn (polytheists and wrong-doers, etc.), and Allah does what He wills.” (lorahim, 14:27)