by Mr. Khushwant Singh

In the daily Hitavada, Nagpur dated 11.01.04

Natural calamities which result in large numbers of deaths and destruction to property do shock one and all. Two hundred thousand people pass away everyday, men, women, children, babies, young, old, saints and sinners – that does not shock. This is precisely the reason for the occurrences of what we term as natural calamities. The Creator wants to shock and awe one and all from time to time. He is putting on notice all who have not perished, that He is the Master, Owner and Sustainer of all that exists and that every individual shall undoubtedly be questioned about his conduct during the course of this life and surely face the consequence of all his actions in the hereafter. But even in these situations of catastrophe and calamity, we find that men do not have any qualms about committing shameful acts of theft, looting, robbery and rape!

Utopian idealism is the forte with which agnostics and atheists ridicule the faithful. Death is inevitable but is a deathless world conceivable or even sustainable? Is a world with equality in the absolute sense viable where every individual is gifted with identical talent and resources? In a world where each and every species is food for the other for survival, mercy, compassion and justice would surely be relative terms. Compassion, mercy and justice are words consequent to the ability of articulate thought and speech imparted to man by The Creator [Al-Qur’an, chapter titled “Ar-Rahman”, 55:4] Should not these words be used in context with His scheme and His plan of things?

“Ya Allah! Where are you?” Mr. Khushwant Singh asks in his article. The Qur’an says in Chapter 2 Verse 186 “If My servants ask you “O Prophet” about Me, Tell them (to apply their intelligence and) they shall find ME very close. Then after I have responded and made Myself manifest (consequent to the use of intellect) let them, then, respond unto Me, and believe in Me, so that they might follow the right way.”

When Mr. Singh writes about faith he means blind faith. For faith can only be the outcome of an intellectual exercise. The Qur’an, which in the words of a Western author, ‘does not demand unreasoned belief rather it invites intelligent faith growing from observation, reflection and contemplation.’ (The “Essential Koran” by Thomas Cleary, Harper Coffins, New York, 1994) It is the only credible communication from the Creator to man. The bitterest opponent of Islam will concede that the Qur’an has remained exactly in the same form as the Prophet had delivered. The faithful believe it to be the word of The Creator while those who deliberately oppose it allege it to be authored by Muhammad. A vast number, rather a huge majority are indifferent or even ignorant of its existence. It contains impeccable evidence of it being the word of The Creator for people of every era and all levels of intellect. Two examples for Mr. Singh to ponder.