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The Qur’an possesses a unique place in the
arrangements made by God to provide guidance to humankind
until the Day of Retribution. God has mentioned as a principle
that when differences arose between people, He initiated the
process of sending messengers. They were prophets, warners and
givers of glad tidings. Then books were revealed through them,
so that they could give verdicts in case of differences in
matters of religion. This same fact has been mentioned at
various places in the Qur’an in different ways. The Qur’an has
been given the status of a balance, a scale so that people can
establish truth in matters of religious significance.
If we analyze our approach to the Qur’an,
we can say definitively that our religious thought has eroded
the status of the Qur’an. The greatest favour that Imam Farahi
has done to the Muslim ummah is that he has restored this
status with utmost eminence. The manner in which he understood
the Qur’an, the manner in which he taught how to teach it, the
way in which he compiled its fields of knowledge and the
extent to which he reached into the depths of its verses and
explained who they address and how, and how the Qur’an
elaborates on its decisions create the basis for a firm
foundation for the establishment of the governance of the
Qur’an: the final verdict; the balance through which it
explains what is acceptable in religion and in the guidance
from God, and what is unacceptable.
I consider Imam Farahi to be one of God’s
signs for this world. Before this time, the world was
controlled by kingdoms. Will Durant has described this period
that was dominated by religion as one in which politics too
was under religious control and, as a result, religion
determined social and cultural systems. That period has ended.
At the beginning of the new world, the birth of Imam Farahi,
was in fact, an arrangement from God to bring His evidence
into this new world. If we assess the consequences of such an
arrangement at a global level, we observe on the one hand that
the old way of thinking is over and its justifications are no
more; its foundations have been destroyed. On the other hand,
this age, which can also be called the age of reason, or of
disbelief, if one considers its impact, was making demands for
strong evidence based on the requirements of human nature.
Imam Farahi’s work, as evident in his books and discussions in
his written material, unveils the inherent reasoning in the
Qur’an with great prominence and glory. If, on the one hand,
history is leading itself to disbelief, God’s evidence is now
in a position to highlight itself equally strongly.
The age in which kingdoms flourished was an
age of the ruler and the ruled. The manner in which laws were
made had completely different bases and reasons, whether among
ourselves or by the Roman civilization. All of this is now
irrelevant. A man like Allama Iqbal had also felt the need for
revival and reconstruction of religious thought along modern
lines. For this, a solid foundation was not available, even to
this wise man of the ummah. It is a fact that this was
provided by Imam Farahi’s discourse. We owe our ability to
have our legal ignorance to be influenced now to Imam Farahi’s
presentation of the Qur’an as the balance, the standard;
explanation of its arguments and determination of its
foundations of thought. Only after this happens globally will
it be possible that within the nation states of modern times,
Muslims will be able to implement the shari‘ah of God in its
true spirit. This was not possible previously because the
judicial framework we had developed and the premises on which
it was built did not address the requirements of modern times.
Human acts are extraordinary in their
respective periods of time. It is only guidance from God that
can be global and transcends time and place, and that can
maintain its relevance and connections in all ages. In this
age, when a new world is upon us and is changing rapidly, Imam
Farahi has given the strong foundation with which to practice
not only God’s shari‘ah in our individual lives, but also to
make it relevant to current times, using the same discourse
and the same school of thought. Just as earlier thinking had
divided the world into Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Harb, and its
demands were met, Imam Farahi, by discovering the law of itmam
al-hujjah, has shown us how to view the world now. The world
is to be viewed from one perspective for the times of the
messengers and another for current times, until the end of the
world. Relations between people, nations and the way to call
people to faith are all different. If the world is moving
towards a global state, what should be the role played by
Muslims? These points become obvious if Imam Farahi’s books,
exegesis and writings are studied, in which he provides a
reconstruction for Muslim thought. If both students and their
teachers were to study Imam Farahi with this in mind, they
will find that if Western scholars think that civilization
ends with their innovation in thinking, different signs from
God are also emerging. Imam Farahi is one such sign, and, it
is not impossible that this reasoning could be brought to
completion through God’s Book towards the end of the world.
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