Read the Quran Chapter 22 English

22:1-2
This is a literal description of some of the horrors of Doomsday, a day which will throw people into such a state of sheer horror that the mother will forget the baby at her breast and the pregnant woman will miscarry. The earthquakes occurring in our present world give only a slight foretaste of the events of Doomsday. The onset of the great earthquake of Doomsday will make man forget everything he had considered important and due to which he had forgotten Doomsday—so much so that on that Day he will forget even his most cherished possessions and his near and dear ones.

22:3-4
Whatever the prophet says is based on knowledge and he establishes its veracity by sound arguments. But those who do not want to admit or recognise any Truth outside themselves, unnecessarily and falsely dispute the prophet’s statements in order to establish that they are on the right path. Such behaviour amounts to arrogance directed against God. Those who use the shield of such false arguments in order to reject the message of Truth have, in effect, made Satan their guide.They prove that they are devoid of the fear of God. Such a mentality deprives a man of the capacity to recognise Truth and accept it, and he easily becomes Satan’s tool. Such a person will wake up only on hearing the terrifying roar of Doomsday. But, the earthquake of Doomsday will come to such individuals to open the door of Hell for them and not to give them guidance at that stage.

22:5-7
Man is doubtful about the life hereafter for the simple reason that he is unable to understand how a human being who is dead and gone can come back to life. He wonders how a dead universe can become a live universe. The reply to this question can be found in the structure of our present world itself. What is the present world? It is nothing but a change from one condition to another. What we call a ‘live’ existence is in fact the result of a change, a metamorphosis of a non-living existence. An analysis of the human body shows that it is composed of iron, carbon, calcium, salts, water, gases, etc. These compounds which comprise the human body are all lifeless. But these inanimate soul-less things convert into animate objects having souls and start moving about in the shape of human beings. In the case of human beings, therefore, when non-living things have initially taken the shape of living things, the assertion that, once again, non-living things will change into living things, is not at all surprising. Similarly, if one looks at the green vegetation growing on the earth, it will be seen that it is formed from a number of constituents found in the soil. All these constituents are initially devoid of the qualities found in vegetation. Yet this type of transformation takes place every day before our eyes. Then why should we have doubts about the recurrence of such a feasible event? The fact is that the coming into existence of the first world in itself proves the feasibility of the coming into existence of the second world. After experiencing one world, the understanding of a second world, rationally and logically, is not at all difficult.

22:8-10
The Arabs had adopted polytheism in the erroneous belief that it was the Truth. When the Prophet’s call for belief in there being only the one God started shaking the faith of the idolators, those chiefs who had built their supremacy on the foundation of idolatory were perturbed, as they smelt danger. For the common man, the discarding of idolatory means only giving up the religion of his forefathers, while for a chief the destruction of idolatory amounts to the destruction of his supremacy. Therefore, in every age, the call for an uncorrupted faith is vehemently opposed by those who had built up and maintained their leadership on the strength of adulterated religion. Such people indulge in unnecessary arguments against the call to Truth and the giver of that call. They make all-out efforts to see that the people under their influence become suspicious of such a call, so that they will remain within the fold of their traditional religions as a matter of course. They thus oppose the Truth in order to maintain the false prestige and the supremacy which they had established on the basis of their self-made religion. They are more interested in themselves than in the Truth. Such people are the worst culprits in the eyes of God. On the Day of Judgement, nothing short of disgrace, humiliation and punishment will be their unmitigated fate.
22:11
One who discovers Faith as the whole Truth, finds his heart and mind fully enveloped by his faith. He then surrenders himself to faith without any mental reservation. In his eyes, all other things assume a secondary place. Such an individual is a true believer in the eyes of God. There are others whose acceptance of faith is purely on the surface. Such people are interested only in their own personal gain. Under some superficial influence, they may attach themselves to faith, but this attachment lasts only so long as they do not suffer any loss due to this attachment, and their interests are not affected. The moment they feel that their interests and the True Faith cannot go together, they revert to their personal interest and discard faith. People of this second type are known as hypocrites. A hypocrite fails to succeed in the Hereafter as well as in this world, the reason being that he lacks the whole-hearted devotion which is a prerequisite for success either in this world or the life Hereafter. While a hypocrite is always deprived of this quality of the heart because of his dual orientation, he neither concentrates fully on the Hereafter nor on this world. Thus he is unable to pay the necessary price for either of the two. Such people become symbols of deprivation, both in this world and the Hereafter.

22:12-14
Whenever a man, unmindful of God, strays from His right path or ignores it, the reason is that he has placed his entire reliance on something other than God. This could be either an idol or some other such object or being. But, in this world, there is nobody who has any powers except the one and only God. Therefore, if a man relies on something other than God, he in fact parts from a powerful Being to seek the support of some imaginary thing which has no reality as a power. What action can be more wrong than this? Moreover, one’s association with God is not a simple matter. It is in fact an acceptance of reality. It is a right of God over man. Therefore, when a man leaves God and diverts his attention towards imaginary things, he is to be harmed by his own action. As far as any benefit is concerned, it can never be received from any object other than the one true God. Those who seek the support of things other than God apparently consider those things to be on a higher plane than themselves, as they would not otherwise have had recourse to them. But the fact is that those whose support is sought and those who seek such support are equally helpless and powerless. In such a world, the pure in thought, treading the God-favoured path with eyes fixed on the Hereafter, can distinguish God from a host of false gods. They are the most precious souls on this earth. God will show His appreciation for them by settling them in the perfect world of paradise, where they will experience eternal bliss.

22:15-16
When the Prophet Muhammad called upon the people to the Truth, those who had built their castles on untruth became his enemies. Opposition went on growing until a stage was reached when it appeared that the flag-bearers of Untruth would overcome the flag-bearers of Truth. Under these critical circumstances, certain Muslims questioned why, if the truth were on their side, God was not helping them and why He remained neutral in the struggle between the Truth and Untruth. God says that He always supports the Truth. But it is not the way of God to intervene immediately. He waits until matters reach the stage when one side’s being on the right path and the other side’s being on the wrong path are clearly established. When this stage has been reached, God intervenes without further delay and settles the issue. This is the way of God. It is necessary for human beings to become reconciled to this, because no other course is possible in this universe. Any way other than this is the way of death and not of life.
22:17
In this verse six religious groups or communities have been mentioned— Muslims, Jews, Sabaeans, Christians, Zoroastrians and polytheists (pagans of Makkah). The Jews owed allegiance to Moses. Similarly, the Sabaeans owed allegiance to John (Yahya), the Christians to Jesus, the Zoroastrians to Zoroaster and the polytheists of Makkah to Abraham. All these communities were initially believers in and worshippers of the one God. But, later on, they distorted their religion. Now they continue to practice this distorted form. The Muslims are not immune to this. They could also in effect err in the same way. The Book of Muslims is unaltered and preserved in every detail, yet in this world of trial, Muslims’ hands are not tied: they are not precluded from putting their own self-made interpretations on the Quran and the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad. They can form a self-styled religion, then by adopting that religion, they presumed to be following God’s true religion. God’s original and true religion is only one, but on account of personal interpretations, it comes to have different versions. If people were to adhere to the original religion, unity and solidarity would flourish among them. But, with people following their self-made religion, religious differences crop up among them and these differences go on endlessly multiplying. But God is fully aware of everybody’s circumstances, and He will make it clear on Judgement Day as to who was on the right path and who was on the wrong one.
22:18
Just as there is a Law of God for human beings, so also is there a law for the rest of the universe. As far as the rest of the universe is concerned, it follows God’s law strictly and without any deviations. It follows divine laws unitedly and with perfect harmony. It is only man who creates differences; by adopting self-made interpretations of these laws, he deviates from the straight path. In the eyes of God, the worst culprits are those who create discord on the basis of religion; who want to live with conflicts in a universe which is free of conflicts. In a world where the lesson of harmony is being demonstrated everywhere on an extremely large scale, such people concern themselves with fomenting discord and disharmony. God’s universe is a demonstration of God’s will. Those who go against this practical example set by the universe created by God, prove themselves to be deserving of God’s punishment in this world itself. On the Day of Judgement the aforesaid verdict, which is being pronounced in practice at every moment against the culprits in this world of today, will require only verbal ratification.

22:19-22
Broadly speaking, all groups fall into only two categories, namely, the upholders of Truth and their opponents. In the present world, those who quarrel with the proponents of the Truth erroneously imagine that they have innumerable arguments in their favour. It is their lack of seriousness which makes them enter into meaningless discussions, as if they had convincing arguments. Since they do not want to admit the Truth, they pick false and senseless quarrels with it. In the Hereafter, such people will be punished severely for their rejection of the Truth; and from this punishment they will never have any respite.

22:23-24
In this world where the net of deceptive words is spread out everywhere and where people far away from Truth enjoy the position of dominance, it is undoubtedly the most difficult task to discover and recognise the truth of Faith; and it is even more difficult in practice to put oneself on the path of this faith. Those who have been endowed with the ability to recognise and sift the noblest of words from the medley of senseless sounds, are the ones who will seek out the right path from a labyrinth of different paths. Those who show such great ability in this world are the cream of humanity. They deserve to be given an abode in the eternal gardens of paradise.
22:25
One instance of the denial of Truth is illustrated by an incident which occurred in ancient Makkah. The people of Makkah, intolerant of even the most peaceful activities of the Prophet Muhammad, imposed many restrictions on him. He and his companions became the target for atrocities, and were even prevented from entering the Ka‘bah. Such behaviour on the part of the Makkans, on top of their denial of the Truth, amounted to adding insult to injury. Those who indulge in this kind of sinful behaviour deserve the severest punishment from God.
22:26
The history of Abraham dates back four thousand years. During the period in which he lived polytheism was prevalent throughout the known and inhabited world, and had thus come to be a permanent feature of life, continuing from one generation to the next, without any break. Ultimately, the stage was reached when no new born child could learn anything other than polytheism from its surroundings. Abraham was born in Iraq. God commanded him to leave the populated areas of Iraq, Syria and Egypt and go to the uninhabited area of Hijaz and settle his progeny in Arabia. The idea behind settling in a desert area was that here, in an isolated place, a new generation could be brought up, cut off from the influence of polytheism prevalent in the inhabited world of the time. In accordance with this plan of God, Abraham settled his progeny in a place known at present as Makkah, but which was totally unpopulated in those days. At that time, Abraham built a mosque (the Kabah) which was to be the centre of worship for the one God by the new generation, and finally by the whole world.

22:27-29
The initial purpose in the constructing of the Kabah was to provide a centre of worship for those who were at ‘walking’ distance from that place. But, ultimately, it was to become a centre of worship of the one God for the whole world. And this purpose was fully achieved. The rites and customs which a pilgrim is required to perform after reaching here have been briefly described in the Quran, while full details are given in the traditions (Hadith) of the Prophet Muhammad. ‘They may witness its benefits for them’ means that they may actually see here the benefits of belief in a practical sense which they had so far been aware of solely as matters of faith. Great historical importance is attached to the places a pilgrim visits during Hajj. Quite naturally, visiting these places and seeing them melts one’s heart. Muslims of the whole world gather there, making the great international stature of Islam a visible reality. The annual gathering of Hajj promotes collectivism on a universal scale in Islam, and even the journey entailed affords the pilgrim many worldly and religious experiences which are helpful in the formation of his future life.
22:30
What is permitted (halal) and what is prohibited (haram); what is sacred and what is not; which way of worship are proper and which improper—all these matters have been made absolutely clear by God through His prophets. Any changes in these matters are not permissible. Any change made in these things is highly wrong, in the eyes of God. Therefore, it is necessary for man to follow the Prophet’s instructions. He should in no case increase or decrease what is prescribed by the Prophet. These are matters the reality of which is known only to God. When a man on his own says something on this subject, he virtually claims, in effect, to have knowledge about things of which he has no knowledge. Obviously, what wrong can be greater than this.
22:31
The central force in this universe is only one, and it is the Being of the one God. One who attaches himself to God has, as it were, found his real abode. He stands on firm ground. Unlike him is one who does not attach himself to God or who only outwardly accepts God, but in his heart of hearts is attached to someone else. Such a person is in effect cut off from that centre, apart from which there is no other centre in the universe. The condition of this individual will be like that described in this verse.

22:32-33
The rites of worship or prayer in Islam have two aspects—the outward and the inward. The inward aspect is the real essence of worship. The outward aspect serves as a symbol (sha‘irah, pl. sha‘a’ir) of this inward aspect. The rites specified by God cannot be treated as being carried out properly if they are simply observed outwardly. In order to be properly observed, these deserve to be performed with a pure and God-fearing heart. Animals specified for sacrifice are among God’s symbols. They are the symbols of realities and not the realities themselves. In order to please God, it is not enough to colour these animals, or to abstain from riding them or utilizing them in any manner. God’s pleasure lies in whatever is done being done purely for His sake. What God appreciates is the innermost feelings of the heart and not merely external trappings.

22:34-35
Whatever products a man avails of in this world—be they agricultural products, animal products or industrial products—they develop in him one of two different types of mentality. With one he either thinks that all the material things he possesses are the result of his talents and hard work, or he attributes their availability to the blessings of certain pagan gods. This mentality is entirely polytheistic. With the other way of thinking, whatever a man receives is considered the gift of God. Charity and sacrifice are the prescribed methods of the external expression of these feelings. The individual offers a part of his earnings for the sake of God, and in this way, he admits that whatever he possesses is the gift of God and not the result of his talents. If a man acquires knowledge of God (ma‘rifah) in the true sense, the condition of his heart will be the same as is described as ‘the humble’ (al-mukhbitin) verse 34. Such a man will, with his body and soul, turn towards God. He will be overwhelmed with feelings of humility and modesty. He will tremble at the thought of God. He will start considering everything he has as belonging to God and not to himself.

22:36-37
Had there been no animals like camels or cattle in this world and had there been only wild beasts like tigers, bears and wolves, man would have found it very difficult to put them to use, and it would have been absolutely impossible to offer them up for ritual sacrifice on a general scale. It is a great blessing of Almighty God that He created not only wild beasts but also some animals who, by their very nature, have the tendency to surrender themselves to human beings, this surrender takes its ultimate form when man can slaughter them for food and sacrifice. The rites of sacrifice have been prescribed, not because God needs meat and blood, but purely as symbolic actions. The sacrifice of an animal is symbolic of the man who has sacrificed himself for the sake of God. This is, in fact, the sacrifice of one’s own self which takes the shape of the sacrifice of an animal. Such people are fortunate for whom the sacrifice of animals becomes synonymous with the sacrifice of their own selves.

22:38-40
When servants of God opt for the path of God, they are not alone in this world. When heedless, arrogant people make them the target of their persecution, God takes the side of the devotees against the persecutors. Initially God tests the sincerity of his proponents. But then He comes to the help of those who, having undergone this test have proved their sincerity. He creates such circumstances for them as may help them to overcome all kinds of hurdles and continue to adhere to the Truth. The real task of the believers is solely to keep calling people to the truth. Once launched on this course, they remain steadfastly upon it. They sometimes wage war, if necessary, but their war is always defensive, never aggressive. If a group remains in power for a long time, it becomes arrogant and boastful. Therefore, God has devised the law of ‘repelling’ for this world. He manages again and again, to dislodge one group from power through another group. Thus the political balance of power has remained steady throughout history. If God did not resort to this method, then human high-handedness would grow to such an extent that even sacred institutions like places of worship would not remain safe from the depredations of the wicked.
22:41
The special condition for a man to be entitled to God’s help is that he should not become corrupt, even if he comes to possess power. The elevation of his status should result in an increase in his modesty and humility. Those who are righteous in this manner before acquiring power are the ones who can prove to be righteous in the conditions prevailing after their acquiring power. Such are those who, when given power, show humility before God, and fulfil and discharge the rights of their fellow human beings. In the affairs of life, they do whatever pleases God and refrain from doing whatever displeases Him.

22:42-44
The people who denied Abraham and Moses were their contemporaries and not those living when this verse was revealed: by the time the Quran was revealed, all the people professed to be followers of these prophets. The same thing happened in the case of all the other prophets. The people of their age disbelieved them, and it was the successors of these very people who elevated them to the status of greatness and holiness. The reason for this is that, in his own times, a prophet is simply a call-giver without the trappings of greatness, but in later ages, a history of greatness gathers round his name. The people of every age have proved that they are not capable of recognising a prophet,—a lonely herald of Truth. They can recognise a prophet only when greatness already attaches to his name. The Prophet Muhammad brought the same message as was brought by Prophet Abraham and Moses. But the people of his age, who were proud of being associated with Abraham and Moses, refused to accept him. This shows which people are in reality believers in a prophet. The real believers in a prophet are those who recognise the ‘call-giving’ prophet while he is still at the stage of having no signs of greatness attached to him. Those who recognise him only when he has achieved greatness are simply believers in history and not real believers in the Prophet of God.

22:45-46
Before God, people with eyes are those who look at things in order to learn a lesson or draw wisdom from them. Those who see things without learning a lesson from them, are blind in the eyes of God. Their seeing is like that of animals, not human beings. God has spread on the earth innumerable lesson-giving things. Among them are the ancient memorials left behind by past nations. These nations once enjoyed pomp and power, but the signs of their existence today are nothing but a few dilapidated ruins. This reminds everybody of the fate he is finally going to meet. But when people lose the mind’s eye, the eyes on the face will fail to show them anything meaningful.

22:47-48
In this world, if an individual or a community rebels against God, God catches hold of that individual or community. But God does not make haste to do so. Man may lose patience in a day, but God does not become impatient even for a thousand years. God may observe disobedience among people, yet gives them ample opportunity to reform themselves, if they are so inclined. God catches hold of wrongdoers only when they have finally proved that they are guilty and incorrigible. God treated people in this manner in the past and people of the future will also be treated according to His immutable method.

22:49-51
The real matter is that man is going to enter a world where it is only believers and pious people who will have eternal comfort and not those who arrogantly ignore the Truth. The real purpose of the Islamic call is to warn people of this coming Day. The sole duty of the giver of the call is to warn people. All other matters relate to God alone, for it is He alone who is at the helm of affairs.

22:52-54
It invariably happens that when one proclaims the divine Truth, whether he is a prophet or not, his opponents bring up various types of irrelevant points with a view to casting doubt on the truth of the message. Such points are always baseless. However, when they are raised, the preacher finds the opportunity to clarify his message and make it more cogent and well-established. This enhances the faith of sincere believers. Thereafter, their bonds with God become still stronger. But for those who are devoid of sincere understanding, these baseless objections become a source of trial for them. They are misled by them and move away from the Truth. ‘God will surely guide the faithful to a straight path’ means that those who are really sincere in their faith are not affected by false propaganda. They are never misled by the magic of false words. Their faith gives them deep insight into things, so that they are not carried away by outward appearances.

22:55-57
A prophet’s call is marked by the greatness of convincing arguments. But those who are accustomed to seeing only outward greatness, are unable to detect the inner greatness of the prophet and consequently deny it. Such people are always in doubt because they want to see the Truth in external glory. And it is the way of God that He brings Truth in the abstract to people, so that those who recognise Truth may acknowledge it and attach themselves to it and those who are enamoured of outward show may ignore it and prove themselves finally guilty. Denying the signs means that man ignores the Truth, even when it is supported by sound argument. He is not willing to accept the Truth, even if it is staring him in the face.

22:58-59
A man who is sincere in his faith, tolerates the sacrifice of anything belonging to him. The one thing he is not prepared to sacrifice is his faith. In pursuing this course, if he is required to leave his home, he leaves it, and if he has to give something, he gives it. He is tied to faith forever until he dies. Those who prove in the life of this world that they consider their faith to be the most valuable thing, will be highly appreciated by God and they will be given the most valuable thing in the life hereafter. There they will spend an eternal life of comfort and happiness.
22:60
The people of faith were enjoined to adopt the ways of God who is forgiving and merciful, in that He repeatedly overlooks the excesses of the people and forgives them. Therefore, the respected companions (of the Prophet) were adherents of this divine code of ethics. They were subjected to atrocities, but they tolerated them. Provocative language was used against them, but they overlooked it. Yet, it happened that when some excess was committed against some Muslims, they gave way to a sudden emotional outburst, and retaliated. Harm was inflicted on them, so they inflicted harm in return. Their opponents, taking advantage of this, started vigorous propaganda against the Muslims. Forgetting their own persecution and, treating trivial actions on the part of the Muslims as an atrocity, they started defaming them. Such action shows the worst type of meanness. Those who indulge in such meanness are in reality challenging the honour of God. Apparently they are trying to prove a Muslim to be an oppressor: in reality they are themselves the worst oppressors and can bring no harm to the people of faith by their false propaganda. In consequence, they will meet with the severest punishment for their transgression.

22:61-62
The system of this world, in its silent language, goes on teaching us a great lesson. Here, again and again, we see the phenomenon of the darkness of the night coming and enveloping the light of the day. Here, every day, the day dawns and dispels the darkness of the night. By analogy, if a group or community is enjoying pomp and glory, it should not harbour the misunderstanding that its pomp and glory will never come to an end. Similarly, if a group or community is oppressed, it should not think that it will remain oppressed forever. God who, in the realm of the heavens, causes the light to be plunged into darkness, and who then restores it, can certainly cause similar events to occur in the world of human beings also. There is no power that can prevent Him from doing so.

22:63-64
When a man builds up his life on the basis of Truth, he comes across different types of difficulties, such as being harassed by others at Satan’s instigation. This reduces the worshipper of Truth to a state of abject despair. But, the universe, in its silent language, declares that there is no question of despair for any of God’s subjects. They have only to compare their condition to that of the earth when, due to extreme heat, it loses all its greenery and becomes dry and barren. To all appearances there is no hope of life. Then, as He does every year, God performs His wonderful miracle—He brings the rain—and all is green again. This is an example of God’s power which is made manifest every year at the material level. Can anyone then doubt His efficacy at the human level?

22:65-66
All the things of this earth maintain a harmonious balance. If this balance is upset, it will be harmful to us instead of being useful. If a piece of metal is put in water, it will sink immediately. But God has made water subject to certain rules on account of which if iron is given the shape of a boat, it will not sink in water. The numerous spheres floating in space should apparently have fallen down, but according to a set law of nature, they accurately maintain their orbits. Man has not created himself. God has created him. Then He has maintained him in a world which is full of blessings. But after being given freedom, man has become so rebellious that he does not admit the graciousness of his greatest Benefactor.

22:67-70
There are two aspects of prayer—one is its spirit, i.e. its true inner aspect, and the other its outward ritual aspect. Inner reality is the true essence of prayer, and the outward form is extraneous. But when a group follows the outward form for a long period, it forgets the aforesaid difference. It gradually comes to consider carrying out only the outward formalities, as if they were the real prayer. This means that the group has reached the stage of mental stagnation. Hence, it has been the way of God Almighty that when He sends a new prophet, He makes some changes in his shariah (i.e. outward ritual forms). His purpose is to shake the people out of their inertia, to break their addiction to outward formalities and to make them active and live worshippers in spirit. Now, those who think that outward formality and ritual in prayer are everything, refuse to obey the prophet. On the contrary, those who know the true spirit underlying prayer start to follow the prophet’s instructions. This change infuses a new spirit into their prayers. It removes them from inert and frozen faith and takes them towards active and live faith. This is the wisdom which accounts for the rites of prayer or worship having differed from one prophet to the next. When a prophet introduced new rites, those who were sunk in inertia would raise serious objections to them. But the prophets were instructed not to allow these matters to become the subject of serious discussions and to devote their full attention to the real and basic teachings.

22:71-72
Inevitably, the call for pure monotheism is intolerable to those who have reposed their faith in many gods rather than in the one and only God. They become deeply agitated when their gods and beloved personalities are criticised. Being unable to refute by rational arguments the call of Truth, they resort to violence against the upholder of the call of monotheism, and want him to be eliminated altogether. When told by God that their behaviour is unwise in the extreme, they are not prepared to bear even verbal criticism. But what will be their condition subsequently when they will be required to undergo the punishment of Hellfire on account of their opposition to the Truth?

22:73-74
To clothe anybody except God with holiness is absolute stupidity, because holiness is given to a being who has inherent power, and as far as this world is concerned, there is no human being or non-human being who enjoys real power. A fly is an ordinary creature, but all the things of the earth and heavens together cannot bring into existence even this ordinary fly. Then where is the justification for holding anything other than God to be holy? All these beliefs are, in fact, based on an underestimation of God’s godhead. People do believe in God, but they are not fully aware of His majesty and power. If they believe in God as He should be believed in, then all deviant beliefs will strike them as meaningless to the point of being ridiculous. Then they themselves will give up all such beliefs.
22:75
The scheme by which God created man and settled him on earth, necessitated His providing guidance to man and showing him which way leads to paradise and which way to hell. He, therefore, ordained the selection of certain human beings for prophethood and then sent them His messages by the angels. By this arrangement, on the one hand, man is being made aware of the reality. On the other, Almighty God is keeping a watch on people’s actions. Thereafter, when the period of testing is over, all the people will be brought back before God in order that they may be requited according to their performance.

22:76-78
The addressees of this verse were directly the companions of the Prophet Muhammad, and indirectly all the believers in the Quran. God chose this group for the special task of making all communities and nations aware of the true and eternal religion of God. The task of bearing witness was performed by the Prophet Muhammad for the people of his own times, and his followers were required to perform this same task for their contemporaries uptill Doomsday. This obligation is a very delicate one. For this purpose, a vigorous and persevering struggle is required. It can be properly performed only by those who bow down before God in the real sense; who are well-wishers of others to the extent that they derive pleasure from spending their time and money on them; who rely on the one and only God; who rise above everything else; who fulfil in the real sense the requirement of the term ‘Muslim’, which term has been specially devised for them by God. However, God has made a special dispensation in relation to the work of bearing witness, i.e. He has removed forever all the external hurdles in the way of this work. A revolution has been brought about through the Prophet Muhammad, which has resulted in the permanent abolition of such hurdles as once constricted the ways of the prophets of the past and their followers. Now there is absolutely no real obstacle to performing this work, unless the bearers of the Quran themselves create self-made difficulties out of ignorance, and thus make an easy task unnecessarily difficult.