NOTICE: This article is a reproduction from Submitters Perspective No 59, November 1989.
By definition, the hypocrites say with their lips that they are believers. However, their actions reflect their disbelief. To utter what is not in one’s heart is a most despised matter in the sight of God (61:3). One of their most common utterances is: “We do not need a messenger. We can worship God alone, and follow the Quran alone, without any need for a messenger from God.” They thus rebel against God’s system. Sending messengers is God’s system for a good number of reasons.
God sends His messengers to rescue those who believe and work righteousness, as we see in 65:11: “a messenger who recites God’s revelations, in order to lead those who believe and lead a righteous life from the darkness to the light.” Note that this verse talks about “those who believe and lead a righteous life.” They are in darkness, until God’s messenger comes and “leads them out of darkness.” Note also the word “recites.” The book itself, the Quran, cannot “recite” God’s revelations. While the messenger is alive, the book comes to life and leads the believers out of darkness.
The Quran, without the Messenger, Misleads the Wicked
See 2:26, 14:27, 17:41, 17:82.
In 3:7, we see that “those well founded in knowledge are needed to explain certain aspects of the Quran. The messenger who receives new information and revelations from God is certainly “well founded in knowledge:” Otherwise, why didn’t God just send a physical book down from the sky, without any messengers? Obviously, those who say that they do not need God’s messenger; that they can make it to Heaven on their own, blaspheme against God. For they defy God’s system.
God’s system is very clearly stated in 18:17: “Whomever God wills to send astray, you will not find for him a guiding teacher.” What makes this system particularly relevant to our generation is that the root word for the “guiding teacher” is “Rashada.”
God is telling us that His system calls for guiding the believers through a “guiding teacher.” So what do the hypocrites say? They rebel against God’s system, and reject God’s appointed teacher. “We can make it on our own,” they think.
Once again, here is God’s system as stated in 18:17:
Whomever God wills to send astray, you will not find for him a guiding teacher.
Only the believers can enjoy and uphold God’s system (see 9:24).