Allah (SWT) said in the Qur’an:” Whoever follows My guidance, on them shall not be fear, nor shall they grieve.” (2: 38)
Guidance is important for righteous living. We are guided by experienced and knowledgeable people. Parents guide their little children in many matters, such as what to eat and how to eat it, how to respect elders, and how to clean themselves. Teachers guide their pupils during lessons and explain why they should work hard and behave well. Experienced and knowledgeable people, such as parents, teachers, and leaders, feel it is their duty to guide us because they do not want us to go astray. They want us to be good and happy people.
In the same way, Allah guides us in all matters, including matters beyond the experience and knowledge of human beings. Allah is All-Knowing and Wise. He therefore gives us His guidance in matters concerning this world and the next. Man, according to Islam, is a body and soul. As such, man’s ultimate happiness depends on the fulfillment of the needs of the body and the requirements of the soul. Allah says:” Seek the Home of the Hereafter with that which Allah has granted you, but forget not your portion in this world.” (28: 77). This verse tells us that there are two worlds – this and the next, which is referred to as the Hereafter.
Thus, to enable us to benefit from these two worlds, He gives His guidance. Allah says:” Whoever follows My guidance, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.” (2: 38) and “Whoever follows My guidance will not lose his way, nor fall into misery.” (20: 123). Allah tells us that His guidance is true. “Verily, the guidance of Allah is the (true) guidance.” (6: 17)
The importance of guidance from Allah is expressed in the following ways:
- 1. “If any accepts (My) guidance, they do it for the good of their own souls.” (27: 92)
- 2. “Who receives guidance, receives it for his own benefit: who goes astray does so to his own loss.” (17: 15)
- 3. “Allah does advance in guidance those who seek guidance.” (19:76)
- 4. “Allah will raise in honor and status those who have believed and those to whom guidance has been given through knowledge.” (58:11)
Islam provides guidance to Muslims from two sources, the Qur’an and the Hadith.
The Qur’an is the direct word of Allah, while the Hadith is the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW). The Qur’an contains guidance in the form of principles and statements, whereas the Hadith contains guidance in the form of interpretations of the Qur’an and the practical application of the teachings of the Qur’an by the Prophet through word and deed.
The Hadith is therefore next in importance to the Qur’an, and both form the pillars of Islam and the sources for Islamic law. The Qur’an and the Hadith give us guidance in every aspect of life. They awaken in us the higher consciousness of our manifold relations with Allah and the universe. They show us how we should live and extend our relations with fellow human beings and everything in the universe.
Apart from the Qur’an and the Hadith, we can also receive guidance from Islamically learned people as well as from our parents, who in turn would have received their guidance from the Qur’an and the Hadith.
While we should read the Qur’an and the Hadith with understanding, we should also understand what these two sources of guidance are and how they came about in the first place, and get ourselves acquainted with these two sources of guidance from which numerous quotations are taken and used in this book. We should also see how these two sources tell us to respect the learned and our parents, for they too provide us with the necessary guidance out of the wisdom they received from the Qur’an and the Hadith.
Shaik A. Kadir
