THE PRAYER OF
MANKIND
By: Kassim Ahmad
21 July, 2016
The title of this essay will no doubt bring to mind Jesus’s “The
Lord’s Prayer”. The Lord’s Prayer goes: “Our Father which art in heaven./Hallowed
be thy name./Thy kingdom come./Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven./Give
us this day our daily bread./And forgive us our debts, as we forgive out debtors./And
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil./For thine is the
kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen./ [1]
Note that the Lord’s Prayer is in three parts. Firstly, it is
praise to the Lord. Secondly, it refers to the Lord’s perfect kingdom. Thirdly, asking for man’s daily food. Fourthly, imploring
against evil and temptation in the Lord’s perfect kingdom.
In comparison to the opening chapter of the Quran, which I
have called “Mankind’s Grand Prayer”, it is divided into four parts. Firstly,
it is praise for the Lord of the worlds (Note the plural form). Secondly, it acknowledges that this Lord is
the final Judge of mankind. Thirdly, only this Lord deserves to be worshipped
and only this Lord is mankind’s helper. Fourthly, it is mankind’s prayer to be shown the right path as
distinguished from the various deviating paths of error. [2]
Let me quote the this short seven-verse opening chapter in
full, using Dr. Rashad Khalifa’s translation:-
1. In the name of God, Most Gracious,
Most Merciful.
2. Praise be to God, Lord of the universe.
3. Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
4. Master of the Day of Judgment.
5. You alone we worship; You alone we
ask for help.
6. Guide us in the right path;
7. The path of those whom You bless; not
those who have deserved wrath, nor of the strayers.
There is also a very important difference. The stark materialism
of the Lord’s Prayer is entirely absent from this Mankind’s Prayer, at once
placing it on a more ethical and spiritual level. Food and other material
requirement are implied in the fourth part. The deviating ways are quite clearly spelt out:
the path of those whom God is wrathful with, and those who stray without
meaning to stray.
Quranic methodology is that every verse interprets one
another. At the same time, one should note a very important pointer: the muhkamat verses (clear by themselves and
acting as the determining verses), and the mutasyabihat
or allegorical verses. The danger in the allegorical verses is that those
who have diseases in their hearts may give a wrong interpretation and thus
cause confusion and disorder. None knows their meanings except God and those
who have profound knowledge. The meanings of the allegorical verses must not contradict
the clear (muhkamat) verses, which
control the interpretation of the allegorical verses.
I have had occasions to discuss with religious scholars as to
the meaning of the right path in contradistinction with the erring paths. I
find that they were unable to give me a satisfactory answer. That sets me to
seek my own answers. I prayed to God and implored His guidance to give answers
to the most important questions of life
and of creation, always mindful that among my many teachers, God is the first
and last teacher.
Fortunately, I studied philosophy. So I consulted
epistemology, the science of knowing – how do you know? As always the case, the
Quran nonchalantly answers by giving the three methods of knowing: ‘ain’ul-yaqin (sensory evidence), ilm’ul-yaqin (rational or logical
evidence), and haqq’al-yaqin suprasensory/
supralogical evidence). Combine these
three methods into a whole and you have opened the door to inexhaustible knowledge!
That is the reason why the angels were ordered by God to
prostrate to Man, His vicegerent in the Universe. Man has the ability to know
when no other created orders have.
KASSIM AHMAD
is a Malaysian author. His website is www.kassimahmad.blogspot.com
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