KNOWLEDGE, SINCERITY AND EXCELLENCE
Authors: Osmani Dr. Noor Mohammad 
Published: February 2024

EDITORIAL:
Knowledge is an excellent gift of Allah SWT for mankind and jinn. All humankind compete each other in achieving excellence. This is a natural process. From the Day One of human creation, Allah SWT gifted Adam, peace be upon him, with all needed knowledge, skills and names. Human superiority was established by Allah SWT through excellent knowledge skills which the Angels were not gifted with. Hence Allah SWT commanded all angels to show their respect towards Adam by prostrating before him. All of them immediately obeyed the command of Allah except Iblis, who showed arrogance and pride against Adam, and did not obey the command of Allah SWT. Hence, he was cursed and expelled from the Heavens.
This shows that knowledge alone does not guarantee success. Sincerity is an indispensable criterion in learning knowledge and achieving excellence in the present life and the life hereafter. Iblis had pride in his nature, and believed that he was the supreme creation of Allah SWT, and all other creation should show signs of respect towards him. How could he bow down before a man of clay! His arrogance led him to be strayed.
Undoubtedly, the knowledge brings us closer to Allah SWT, leads us to success in all our jobs. Knowledge confirms honour and dignity in our life. True knowledge will ultimately save us from the Hell-fire. (Qur’an, al-Mulk 67:10). A knowledgeable person and un-knowledgeable person can never be equal. The learned ones would realize the signs of Allah and devote their life and time to secure the ultimate pleasure of Allah SWT. (Qur’an, Zumar 39:9). Allah praised the knowledgeable people by saying that the learned ones alone are truly conscious of their Lord. (Qur’an, Fatir 35:28).
A man who denounced the Signs of Allah
In Surah al-A`raf (9: 175-177), Allah SWT recorded the evil behavior of an extremely unlucky man, who was gifted with abundance of knowledge from his Lord, received all favors from Allah SWT, but at the end of his journey in life, he succumbed to Satanic temptations, and surrendered to the temporal worldly gains, destroying his eternal blissful life in Hereafter. By knowledge, he was fully aware that eternal life in Hereafter was awaiting him, and worldly life could never be compared with eternal life. This knowledge and abundance of divine favors did not save him. Allah SWT resembled him like a dog panting and breathing quickly out of search for eating and fulfilling sexual thirsts.
This is the beauty of Qur’an that Allah SWT does not mention the specific names of the corrupt people, who were destroyed and became the slaves of Satan and temptations rejecting the divine favors. Now, the Qur’anic interpreters named him as Bal`am bin Ba`ura’, a man during the time of the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him, who was said to be gifted with ‘Mustajab ad-da`wah’, means, all his prayers were immediately answered by Allah SWT.
Other scholars named Umaiyyah bin Abi as-Salt (d. 5AH), as the man intended in the ayah. He was from Ta’if, a poet philosopher, a believer in Allah SWT in Jahiliyyah [pre-Islamic phase], never worshipped idols, a great scholar of that time, who had the knowledge of previous divine books and all existing knowledge. All his writings and poetries support Tawhid, oneness of Allah SWT. He knew that there will come a final Prophet, and expecting by heart to be that promised prophet. When he came to know that Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, already started mission in Makkah, he became upset and jealous. His earlier belief in oneness of God, and profound knowledge did not save him. His pride and internal desire to be a prophet destroyed him. The prophets were chosen by Allah SWT alone, not based on someone’s desire and expectation.
A Qur’anic scribe turned apostate
In an authentic hadith in Bukhari (n. 3617) and Muslim (n. 2781), it is narrated by Anas bin Malik, may Allah SWT be pleased with him, that a Christian man from Bani Najjar accepted Islam, who had the knowledge of the previous divine books. He learnt and memorized Surah al-Baqarah and Aal ‘Imran from the Qur’an, which made him a respectable person from among the companions of the Prophet. He was assigned the job of scribe or writer of the Qur’anic revelation. Later he turned apostate and joined his Christian folks. Not only that, he claimed that Muhammad did not know anything except what he wrote for him. By this claim, he became famous to his Christian folks. When he died and graved, the earth threw his dead body out of the surface. They tried to put him onto different graves a second and third time, but again he was thrown out. This shows that the man rejected the aayat of Allah SWT which he learnt, and falsely publicized against the Prophet and the Qur’an. He was immediately punished by the earth, and the punishment in Hereafter is more severe awaiting for all anti-Qur’anic people.

Anti-Qur’anic people in the current age
Not only the time of Prophet Moses or Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon them, the chain of the people who denounce the signs of Allah, after they were gifted with it, prolong day after day. There are people who do not want to believe in Allah SWT, or do not want to accept Prophet Muhammad as the Final messenger of Allah, or there are plenty of them who denounce the divine shari`ah as a whole or part of it, or try to insert their false interpretation to the Qur’anic aayat and shari`ah, and assert that this should be changed from time to time.
Mirza Gulam Ahmad Qadiyani (1835-1908)
Born in Qadiyan of Punjab in a religious family, was a religious devotee, well educated, had profound knowledge of the Qur’an and strong influence on the masses. At the age of 50, when he noticed that the people respect him wholeheartedly, he declared to be ‘Promised Messiah’ and ‘Awaited Mahdi’. He also declared to be the Prophet of his time. His profound knowledge alone could not save him. Ultimately, succumbed to personal desires, positions, name and fame and sacrificed his religion for worldly gains. Astonishingly, his graveyard was named by his blind followers as ‘Beheshti Maqbarah’ [Gardens of Heaven Graveyard]. If they were aware of unseen information of al-Ghayb, and what the false prophet of Qadiyan was facing in his ‘alam al-Barzakh [intermediate world between dunya’ and Hereafter], they could have named it the opposite.
Rashad Khalifa (1935-1990)
Born in Egypt, an Egyptian American scientist, from a religious Sufi family, migrated to America in 1959 to further his education. He settled there. To teach his daughters the Qur’an, he attempted to translate the Qur’an. Then he discovered the miraculous number 19 in the Qur’an. He computed the whole Qur’an and propagated the numerical miracles in the Qur’an. He received due recognition and warmth welcome from all over the Muslim world. This made him proud. Then his satanic desires took over, claimed to be the promised Prophet for whom Allah SWT has taken pledge or Mithaq from all prophets. (Qur’an, Aal ‘Imran 3: 81). His profound knowledge did not lead him to guidance. Rather it led him to worldly achievements for which he destroyed his eternal life in hereafter, which Allah SWT has informed to all mankind through all divine Prophets. At the end, he was killed in 1990 by an Afro-American man.
It is evident that knowledge alone will not lead one to success. Allah SWT loves His slaves to mark excellence in the field of knowledge and science with humility. Intention should be pure to serve humanity in order to secure pleasure of Allah SWT. If satanic temptations overpower us, we get proud, and the pride may lead us to ultimate destruction.

Noor Mohammad Osmani
Editor-in-chief
December 2022