Al-Quran - The Miracle of Miracles [ deedat]

6. ACID TEST OF THEOLOGY
On the authority of the Messenger of Allah, it is universally accepted that a Muslim
reciting the above four verses in its original form, three times, will derive the spiritual
blessings of reading the whole Qur'an. What makes this short Súra (chapter) so
invaluable? It is not the sound, nor the music of that inimitable symphony which move
men to ecstasy and tears. It is the Message, that acid test of religion which gives it that
high and sublime status.
There is not a theology, or a concept of God which is out of the purview of these four
short verses. They are the touchstones about the knowledge of God. Through these you
can accept or reject any idea of God, or know right from wrong. This is exactly like the
"touchstone" the jewellers use for testing gold. Ask a jeweller friend how a touchstone
works. How did our Qur'anic touchstone come about?
FROM THE "HEAD COMPUTER"
Arrangements were under way for me to visit Zambia on a lecture tour in mid 1975. I
received a phone call from Lusaka that an air ticket was sent to Durban which I could
pick up from the head quarters of the South African Airways in the city centre. I walked
up to the airways
office and approached the information counter and told the man in charge that I had come
to pick up my air ticket which had been sent from Lusaka. He told me to see one of the
ladies, out of a dozen that were seated in a semi-circle, each with a computer terminal
with a visual screen in front. As most of them were attending to other customers, I asked
"Which one?" The officer was obviously irritated and flayed his hands and said roughly,
"Any one!" pointing in the direction of the seated ladies.
At that moment, I could not understand the reason for this otherwise polite gentleman
getting ruffled with my humble and innocent question. I was looking forward to receiving
a long booklet of ticket vouchers. I had handled and used them a few times before in my
life so there was no mistaking in what I was anticipating. How can any one of those
women have my ticket? I wondered. But the irritated tone of the man's voice left me no
choice but to seek further information as indicated.
Sheepishly, I approached the first lady that I saw free to serve and told her of my mission.
I was informed about a ticket waiting to be picked up. She asked me my name which I
spelled out for her. As I spelt it, she began typing it on the keyboard before her. She was
watching the screen as she typed. I could not see the wording from where I stood. She
nodded her head and said, "Yes," suggesting that she had got it. I said that I wanted to
leave Durban for Johannesburg on the Tuesday evening. She offered me a 6 p.m. flight
which I accepted, and she punched a few more words on the keyboard. I told her, further,
that I wanted to leave Johannesburg to arrive in Lusaka at about 3 p.m. the next day. That
was the instruction from my hosts there as they wanted the news media and the TV news
to cover my arrival. She typed some more words and enquired whether
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