A Will Which Was Not Written
By Ayatullah Jafar Subhani

(Continued)
It is, however, surprising that Dr Haykal, the author of the book Hayat-i-Muhammad has undertaken to side with the Caliph by way of a hint and writes: "After this event Ibn Abbas believed that on account of not writing what the Prophet wanted to be written the Muslims had lost something important but Umar stuck to his view, because Allah says in the Qur'an: We have neglected nothing in the book.

If, however, he had studied the preceding and succeeding words of the verse he would not have explained it in such an unjustified manner and would not have risen in support of the Caliph against the clear-cut words of the Prophet, because the meaning of the word 'book' in the said verse is the creation and the pages of existence and the various species in the world of existence are different pages of the book of creation and these many pages give shape to the book of creation. Here is the text of the verse: All the beasts on land and flying birds have different communities just as you (men) have. We have not neglected anything in the book. They will be brought into the presence of their Lord. (Surah al-An'am, 6:39)

As the words preceding the sentence under consideration relate to animals and birds and the words succeeding it relate to the Day of Resurrection, it can be said definitely that in this verse the meaning of the word book from which nothing has been left out is the book of creation.

Besides this, even if we admit that what is meant by the word book in this verse of the Qur'an is the Qur'an itself, even then, as specified by the Qur'an itself, it is an admitted fact that it can be understood only in the light of the hadith and the guidance of the Prophet of Islam. The Holy Qur'an says: Whom we had sent with miracles and revelations, 'Ask those who know about the Books, if you do not know about this'. We have revealed the Qur'an to you, so that you may explain to mankind what has been revealed to them and so that perhaps they will think. (Surah al-Nahl, 16:44) In this verse it has not been said: "You may read to mankind". The words used are: "You may explain to mankind". Hence even if the Book of Allah be sufficient for mankind it stands in great need of explanation by the Prophet. If the Muslim ummah could really dispense with such a document (i.e. the one which the Prophet proposed to write) why should Ibn Abbas have said the

Next Page