It is known to us that our moral conduct in society is beyond acceptance and not worthy of any praise. It is neither beneficial for a healthy, peaceful, cooperative nor livable society in this world, nor is it worthy of salvage in afterlife.

But, amidst, rat race in life, dividing politics, conflicting identities and ego-centric mindset, we do not introspect.

We seek solace in short cut remedies to justify our conscience by giving abrupt charity, paying visits to shrines and maintaining an acceptable social image that vindicates our religiosity in front of others.

But, seldom do we refer to God alone directly and seek His direction in His own words.

Qur’an is the word of God. It is the last message of God on earth. If we read it, the cure to our moral apathy and key to our salvage in afterlife is well defined at almost every place in Qur’an.

Success lies in purification of self from the inside and outside and from bodily perspective, moral perspective and spiritual perspective.

This novel is a reminder to reflect back on Qur’an’s message. It unfolds the secrets of success as explained by Qur’an. It highlights from the stories of different characters as to what are the traits which make a person successful.

These are not necessarily the traits that are more popular in our perception and social convention. These are the traits highlighted by Qur’an’s morals, such as upholding justice, observing patience and remaining thankful, obedient, watchful and being a source of comfort and convenience to all creatures and not a source of harm for anyone.

One way of explaining this is to quote the relevant passages in Qur’an and Hadith. That should be done and is being done. But, to engage more and more diverse people to enter the gate of taking guidance from Qur’an, an alternate route is to make truth a manifested reality.

Parables of Muvlana Rumi and Shaikh Saadi try to attempt that. For our young generation, the language, context, examples and scenarios need to be as much relevant to current times as much as possible so as to achieve the objective of manifesting truth as reality. Novels by Ashfaq Ahmed achieve this end to an extent.

But, what is even more important is to connect urge for moral excellence as a necessary requirement of salvage in afterlife. Man is neither inferior as eternally sinful, nor superior to imagine or crave for becoming a part of God’s persona. The true identity of humans with their Qur’anic defined mandate and purpose of life has to be part of the message of Islam that we put forward.

One of the famous authors in Pakistan and scholar of Islam, Abu Yahya penned this novel in recent years to make people comeback to Qur’an and paying attention to its message.

The desired awakening of Qur’an is not merely a change in physical appearance, visits to certain places or appeasing certain individuals to seek God’s favour.

The desired awakening is moral awakening and to uphold morality in every matter and aspect of life.

The novel is thought provoking. The most important passage is when different people are presented before Allah on judgement day and the verdict is announced based on their attitude and behaviour.

The common ills of our society were beautifully highlighted through this, such as bribery, immodesty, indifference to moral and immoral ways of doing things to achieve ends and seeking or expecting intervening help to appease Allah while remaining forgetful of Him.

The novel also briefly highlighted the ills in other nations like Jews and Christians. Mention of Prophet Yarmiah A.S. was very relevant to the Muslim society of today. Muslims even after accepting faith are still part of God’s trial and have more responsibility. Rather than assuming themselves as God’s chosen ones, they are expected to uphold God’s teachings and give message of God to others. It is one’s own self that needs to change first and foremost.

The total reading time is approximately 5 to 6 hours. It can be read in one to two sittings.

If we want to imagine what will happen in Hashr and on Judgement day and afterwards in Heaven and Hell, this novel gives a glimpse and more importantly the reasons why some people will end up successful and some as unsuccessful on the day when life will begin for never ending again.