The Responsibility of Indhar: The chain of prophets and messengers began with Adam (sws) and ended on Muhammad (sws). After his departure, divine revelation ceased and the institution of prophethood was terminated (the Qur'an, 33: 40).
Consequently, the responsibility of indhar ie, to warn people to adhere to their religion now lies with the scholars of the ummah till the Day of Judgement. This responsibility has been mentioned in the Qur'an in the following words:
And it was not possible for all the believers to undertake [this Job]. So why did not a few from every group among them come forward to gain sound knowledge in religion and warn the people of their [respective] nations, when they returned to them that they take heed. (9:122)
The Almighty has specified that this indhar shall be done through the Qur'an: Verses such as (Remind through the Qur'an whoever fears My warning, (50:45), and (And through this [Qur'an] fight with them with full force, (25:52) point to this.
For this very reason the Prophet (sws) is a nadhir (warner) for the whole word, and the scholars of religion actually communicate his nadhir to people: Blessed be he who has revealed al-furqan to His servant, that it may warn the whole world, (25: 1). Consequently, the Qur'an says:
And this Qur'an has been revealed to me that I may thereby warn you and those whom it may reach. (6:19)
THE OBJECTIVE OF RELIGION:
The objective of this religion stated in the Qur'an is called tazkiyah (purification). It means that the individual and collective lives of people should be purified and their beliefs and deeds be developed in the right direction. At many places in the Qur'an, it has been mentioned that the objective of mankind is to enter Paradise in which they will be pleased with their Lord and their Lord will be pleased with them, and only those people have been promised Paradise who have purified their souls:
At that time, however, successful shall be he who purified himself, and remembered his Lord's name, then prayed. [No], in fact , you give preference to this worldly life in spite of the fact that the life to come is better and more lasting. (87:14-17)
In other words, it is tazkiyah which is the objective and purpose of religion. It is for this end that the prophets were sent and the whole religion was revealed to guide man in attaining this objective:
It is He Who has sent forth among the unlettered a messenger from their own who recites to them His revelations, purifies them, and [for this, he] instructs them in the shari ah and in hikmah. (62:2)
THE CORRECT RELIGIOUS ATTITUDE:
The correct attitude which the followers of this religion should adopt is called ihsan. It means to do something in the best possible way. When some religious duty is carried out so that a complete balance is maintained between its form and spirit, every constituent of it is taken fully into consideration and a person does the deed in a manner that he considers himself to be standing before God, then this attitude is called ihsan. The Qur'an says:
And who has a better religion that he who submits to God, such that he does ihsan, and follows the faith of Abraham, who was devoted to [God], (4:125)
THE PROPHET (SWS) HAS EXPLAINED IHSAN IN THE FOLLOWING SUBTLE WORDS:
Ihsan is that you worship God as if you are seeing Him because if you are not able to see Him, at least He sees you. (Muslim, No: 8)
ISLAM: THE NAME OF THIS RELIGION:
The religion introduced in the foregoing pages is called "Islam", and the Almighty has asserted in the Qur'an that no other religion is acceptable to Him:
The only true religion in God's sight is Islam... and he that chooses a religion other than Islam, it will not be accepted from him and in the world to come he will surely be among the losers. (3: 19, 85)
Just as the word "Islam" is used for the whole corpus of religion, it is also sometimes used to imply its outer form. As regards its outer form, it consists of the following five things:
1 Bearing witness that there is no god besides Allah and
Muhammad (sws) is His messenger.
2. Offering the prayer
3. Paying zakat
4. Keeping fasts of Ramadan
5. Offering the Hajj of the Baytullah
The Qur'an has stressed upon all these directives at numerous places. In a narrative of the Prophet (sws), all these five have thus been mentioned:
Islam is that you bear witness that there is no God besides Allah, and Muhammad is His messenger and be diligent in the prayer and pay the zakat and keep the fast of Ramadan and offer the Hajj of the Baytullah. (Muslim: No 8)
(Translated from Mizan by Shehzad Saleem)
(To be concluded)