Merciful Guidance
\r\n Ta-Ha (Ta Ha) Chapter 20: Verses 123, 124 (partial)
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"... If there comes unto you guidance (huda) from Me, then whoso follows My guidance shall never go astray nor fall into misery. But whoso turns away from My remembrance (dhikr), His shall be a strait life, and We shall raise him blind on the Day of Resurrection."
It is one of the most characteristic features of Quranic thought that it conceives of 'religion' in terms of the 'guidance' of God. In this conception, the religion in the sense of islam-iman is nothing other than ihtida (verb. ihtada) which literally means 'to be rightly guided' or 'acceptance of guidance'. This is but a corollary of the basic fact that, in the Quran, Revelation is regarded as essentially a merciful guidance (huda) for those who are apt to believe. Indeed, even the casual reader of the Quran would not fail to notice that through the whole of it there runs the fundamental thought that 'God guides whom He will'. God is absolutely fair in giving guidance graciously to all men, but some people accept it while others reject it of their own free will.
\r\nIt is interesting to note that in the latter half of the passage the word huda 'guidance' is replaced by dhikr 'remembrance', which is just one of the usual words in the Quran denoting Revelation in the sense of what serves to recall God to one's mind.
\r\nSo viewed from the human standpoint, 'belief' is neither more nor less than 'accepting the guidance' and to choose the right path, while kufr means 'turning away from the guidance' so as to go astray from the right path.
\r\nCompiled From:
\r\n \"Ethico Religious Concepts in the Quran\" - Toshihiko Izutsu, pp. 193, 194