Alif, Lam, Ra are the Isolated Letters. It is not mandatory to know the meanings, which are a secret between Allah-SWT and His-SWT Prophet-SW. Mere recital yields the requisite blessings. These are the Ayat of a Book thoroughly complete and self-contained; the luminous Quran, a Book which gives the ultimate information over each and every issue. It benefits its reader by radiating Divine Refulgence. It is very clear and discusses all facts of life explicitly.
A time is fast approaching when the results of beliefs and practices will be announced. The non believers will then wistfully desire that they had embraced Islam. In this life, they are deeply engrossed in eating, merry making and pursuing tall desires. Their life style is the root cause of their waywardness. All living beings need food for their survival. So a believer also eats, avails the comforts of and plans his life. But the difference is that a non believer makes these aspects the very goal of his life. He becomes so obsessed with mundane pleasures that he becomes oblivious of the eternal life and the Divine Favours he enjoys.
Given the light of faith, one takes his food in order to sustain his life and earns and spends within the limits prescribed by Allah-SWT . A believer prefers to starve rather than eating a morsel of forbidden food whereas a non believer simply looks for good food. He is not pushed whether it is permissible or forbidden. A believer also benefits from the necessary amenities of life like fine clothing and a comfortable living but within the perimeters of His-SWT obedience. Even if he has to renounce these, he does so without relinquishing Allah-SWT's obedience. On the contrary, a non believer can die for mundane pleasures. When a believer plans for the fulfilment of his needs, whether personal, familial or national, his planning is based on obedience. In other words, his first priority is Allah-SWT's obedience and not the satisfaction of needs. A non believer, unmindful to the Magnificence of Allah-SWT , is merely concerned with his comforts. Hence any person who relishes his food regardless of whether it is forbidden or permissible; and lives only for pleasure without the slightest concern of Allah-SWT's Commands is indeed a captive of his "vain hopes". This term refers to the planning for availing temporal pleasures and fulfilling sensual desires. The faith of such a person is in jeopardy. If we take a look at our society today, it is the same disease that is taking us away from Din and is pushing the non believing societies deeper into the quagmire of infidelity. But for how long are they going to enjoy this life? This world is running accordance to a predetermined plan and every settlement or community is given a term of respite. If it mends its ways within that period, it is well and good, otherwise it is perished. Many a settlements have met such ill fate before, at the hour appointed for them. So these infidels will also meet their natural end, as no nation or community can advance or delay the respite Allah-SWT has predetermined for it.
The temporal pleasures have blinded these infidels so much that when they hear the Divine Ayat Commanding obedience to Him-SWT against their desires, and warning that these comforts are not the aim of life and have to be confined to the perimeters of the limits set by Allah-SWT , they find such Quranic Injunctions against logic and resort to blasphemy. They tell the Holy Prophet-SW that if this was the Quran revealed unto him-SW, (Allah-SWT forbid) he-SW was insane. Religion, to the infidels, is a source of earning worldly benefits. That is why all their rituals promise some material or sensual gains in return. How can they conceive the philosophy of renouncing worldly pleasures over eternal welfare? They argue with the Holy Prophet-SW that if an angel brought the Divine Message to him-SW, they would like to meet that angel to verify his-SW Prophethood.
Conversation with Angels
The infidels fail to appreciate that the Prophetic light and a certain level of purity of the Qalb as well as the soul are the prerequisites of conversing with the angels. Prophethood is a prerequisite for receiving Divine Revelations, but the Qulub enlightened by the Prophetic light can also speak to the angels. This excellence is found in the Aulia’ and was witnessed on many occasions during the Holy Prophet-SW’s era, when different Companions conversed with the angels at different times. However, this level of excellence is not attained merely by embracing faith, but after the due process of Tazkiyah has taken place. And when the angels will finally descend, everyone will be able to see and speak to them and the respite would have ended. The world will come to an end and each individual will be justly requited. The term for actions will have ended. So these infidels must realise that when they get the testimony from the angels, it will be too late. They also assert that the Message the Holy Prophet-SW preaches is only accepted by a handful of unlettered people, and it will become a bygone tale with the passage of time. Allah-SWT declares: "Verily, it is We-SWT Who-SWT have revealed the Quran and it is We-SWT Who-SWT are its Guardians."
Miracle of the Quran
It is also a great miracle of the Quran that it exists in its pristine form todate without the addition or omission of a single dot, and will In-sha-Allah always remain so. Although the Jews founded a sect which claims that the Quran was altered by the Companions-RAU, yet their allegation is self contradictory. Could it be that the Divine Message revealed to Allah-SWT's Prophet-SW was corrupted, while the one edited by the Companions-RAU remained unchanged over the past fifteen centuries and no one could distort it? This is indeed illogical and amounts to denial of Allah-SWT's Protection attending it. It is a part of the faith to believe in the Quran as the one originally revealed to the Holy Prophet-SW. To believe that it has been mutilated is infidelity and a person holding such a belief is a downright disbeliever. Allah-SWT , the Munificent, has guaranteed its protection, and has even preserved it deep within the Qulub of the believers. Those who have memorized the Quran are the soldiers of Allah-SWT appointed by Him-SWT for its protection.
Allah-SWT's Protection also Promised to Hadith
The meanings and the interpretation of the Quran form its integral part. It was revealed to reform and guide the entire mankind. A Mentor was sent whose assignment was to teach the Quranic text and explain its meanings. These explanations by him are termed as Ahadith which also enjoy Divine Protection. Is it not a miracle of this Protection that the infidels have incessantly indulged in either fabricating Ahadith or misinterpreting them, but Allaah-SWT raised such erudites who filtered out falsehood from the truth. Till this day, the Ahadith shine as brilliant stars on the horizon of guidance, in their pristine form. For the protection and identification of Ahadith, the Muslims have compiled more or less seventeen branches of learning to sift the truth from falsehood. Of these branches of knowledge, 'Asma-ar-Rijal (Encyclopedia of the Reporters) alone is so amazing. It reveals the entire life history of each and every reporter of a Hadith. The opinion that the Ahadith have been compiled in the third and fourth century A.H and as such cannot be relied upon, stems out of ignorance. The Ahadith had been duly reduced to writing during the Holy Prophet-SW‘s era and even if the books were compiled later, these meticulously comprise the sayings of the Holy Prophet-SW . Denial of Hadith is indeed the denial of the Quran.
There is nothing unbelievable about this Book. Allah-SWT had sent His-SWT Messengers before unto different groups. The Quran has used the term "Sh'iah" (faction) for such a group which is actually misguided, but insists on proving itself to be on the right path. The infidels mocked at Allah-SWT and His-SWT Messengers-AS, objecting that they imposed restrictions on the ways of earning wealth, classified food as permissible and forbidden, and advised them to abandon the tangible pleasures in hope of a world beyond their perception.
This state of Qalb, whereby invitation towards Allah-SWT looks like a joke, is a punishment itself which overwhelms the hearts of the infidels. It is because of their sins and denial that their Qulub are condemned to a condition whereby they mock over the sayings of Allah-SWT ’s Messengers-AS. Such people are never blessed with faith as a rule, applied to all preceding nations. People who mock at Allah-SWT's Commands become so indifferent to guidance that even if the gateway to the sky is opened up for them to pass frequently, they will still not believe. They will term such an excursion as an act of sorcery, and a spell on their vision making them hallucinate. This clearly establishes that the acceptance of faith depends solely on the states of the Qalb. It is indeed an irony that the Muslims society, in general, has become heedless of this aspect.
