“In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. Ha Mim. By this perspicuous Book, We have made it a Qur’an in clear, eloquent language that you may understand. And surely, it is safe with Us in the Mother of the Book, exalted and full of wisdom.”
(The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 43: Az-Zukhruf, Verse 1-5)
The Holy Qur’an is the Holy Scripture of Muslims and a compilation of the verbal revelations given to The Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) over a period of 23 years. The language of the Holy Qur’an is Arabic. It is divided into 114 Chapters with each Chapter containing individual verses which lay down the law, commandments and the codes for social and moral behaviour. In a nutshell, it is a complete guidance for mankind. The Holy Qur’an expounds on the subject of God, His attributes and man’s relationship with Him. It also explicitly states the rights that are due to God and the rights due to mankind so that man is aware of his or her duties in the life of this world in preparation of the hereafter. Moreover, the Holy Qur’an warns mankind and makes the wrongdoers aware of an impending punishment unless they repent and take heed as well as giving the believers and the doers of good, glad tidings of the ultimate reward. In doing so, it demonstrates a very crisp and clear picture of the philosophies of religion for all times.
For instance, in the verse mentioned above, God Almighty describes the Holy Qur’an as a book which is “exalted” and “full of wisdom”. The word “exalted” signifies its status of being at the top of all revealed scriptures which God had ever granted mankind. This proves the Holy Qur’an to be the Final Law as it is the ultimate in rank. Moreover, the expression, “full of wisdom” means that the Holy Qur’an is complete, in that it leaves out nothing which is relevant. Thus, God Almighty explains the Holy Qur’an to be the complete and final law for all of mankind.
The Holy Qur’an can also be viewed as the final and complete law because it has been delivered for all of mankind. This can be seen by the way it addresses its readers. Its audience is universal in that it addresses all of mankind and does not discriminate by race, colour or creed. For example, Allah the Almighty states,
“And, surely, We have explained in various ways in this Qur’an, for the good of mankind, all kinds of similitudes, but of all things man is most contentious.” (The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 18: Al-Kahf, Verse 55)
In contrast, the Holy Scriptures revealed before the Holy Qur’an were geographically limited and delivered the revelations contained within them to specific communities. For instance, one finds that God has been described in these earlier Scriptures as, “Lord, The God of Israel” (The Holy Bible, 1 Kings 8:23) or “God of the Armies of Israel” (The Holy Bible, 1 Samuel 17:45). This shows that the audience for these scriptures is not universal.
Additionally, unlike other former Holy Scriptures which have had their texts interpolated by men, God Almighty promises to keep the Holy Qur’an safeguarded against all forms of interpolations or changes until the end of time by stating,
“Verily, We Ourself have sent down this Exhortation, and most surely We will be its Guardian.” (The Holy Quran, Chapter 15: Al-Hijr, Verse 10)
God Almighty also states whilst referring to the Holy Qur’an,
“The Spirit, Faithful to the Trust, has descended with it.” (The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 26: Ash-Shu’ara, Verse 194)
Meaning that the arch-angel Gabriel (as), the spirit which is faithful to the Trust, has descended with the Holy Qur’an. Therefore, the text of the Holy Qur’an will forever be under Divine protection, with no gaps or interpolations to be found within it until the end of time. This yet again proves the Holy Qur’an as the final law. Indeed, the text of the Holy Qur’an has remained unchanged over the past 1500 years; each and every single copy of the Holy Qur’an that has been published and circulated in the world today is identical to a single letter and thus proves its authenticity by itself.
The Holy Qur’an contains explanations of “all kinds of similitudes” for people when it addresses a specific claim or guidance. In doing so, it provides its own arguments to substantiate its claims and does not rely on another resource to provide any sort of proof.
The former Holy Scriptures also mention the Qur’an as God Almighty states,
“And it is surely mentioned in the Scriptures of the former peoples.” (The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 26: Ash-Shuara, Verse 197)
For instance, it states in the Torah (Deuteronomy, 18:18) that, “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.” The word, “all” refers to a whole or complete revelation which has been beautifully compiled in the Holy Qur’an. Moreover, Jesus (as) said in the New Testament (John, 16:12:13) that, “I have many more things to say to you but you cannot bear them now but when he, the spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” The “spirit of truth” refers to The Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) and again the word, “all” refers to the complete and final law, the Holy Qur’an.
Another way in which the Holy Qur’an proves itself as the complete and final law is by explicitly explaining the truth which can be seen in history, past, present and future. For example, the case of the Pharaoh, Rameses the second, the man who persecuted Moses (as) and his followers, has been described in both the Bible and the Holy Qur’an. The Bible states, “Then the waters returned and covered the chariots and the army of Pharaoh was drowned… not so much as one of them remained.” Thus, the Bible purports to say that all men drowned, including Pharaoh. However, the facts do not align with this. God Almighty states in the Holy Qur’an,
“So this day We will save thee in thy body alone that thou mayest be a Sign to those who come after thee. And surely, many of mankind are heedless of Our Signs.” (The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 10: Yunus, Verse 93)
The extraordinary expression, “We will save thee in thy body”, clearly makes a reference to mummification and indeed, that is how Pharaoh has been preserved and can be viewed in the Royal Museum of Cairo, to this date. Interestingly, the French Scientist who conducted research on Pharaoh’s mummy, found that Pharaoh did not actually drown to death but was rather left as a lifeless and bed ridden object which the remains of the salt stuck in his body evidently revealed. This French Scientist, Professor Maurice Bucaille, even converted from Christianity to Islam because of this groundbreaking discovery as he was startled about how the Holy Qur’an had revealed the historic incident of the mummification of Pharaoh’s body 1500 years ago, when the mummy was only discovered and presented to the public in 1898. Most surely, it is the words of Allah that have proven to come true as a great prophecy yet again in the final and complete law.
The above-mentioned comparisons of the Torah and the Bible to the Holy Qur’an demonstrate that the jewels of knowledge contained in previous revealed Scriptures find perfection and completion in the complete and final law which is the Holy Qur’an.
Written by Ghazala Abbasi
