Hanif — the religious standard.

…truth ought to prevail

 The religious practice is meant to make the truth prevail. Hanif is defined as inclination to the right opinion. Such was the religion of Syedena Ibrahim (A.S) who never wavered in his inclination to truth. This is thus the religious practice; we ought to follow, as laid down in the Holy Verse:

 So set thou thy face steadily truly to the faith (establish) Allah’s handiwork according to the pattern on which he has made mankind: no change (let there be) in the work (wrought) by Allah: that is the standard religion: but most among mankind understand not’’ (30:30)

In this Holy Verse, Hanif (true) is used in the sense we say: ‘the magnetic needle is true to the north’. Those privileged to receive the ‘Truth’ should never hesitate or swerve, but remain constant in belief and abide by the faith, as men who know.

Creative Hand of Allah (SwT) made man innocent, pure, free, inclined to right and virtue and endued with true understanding of his position in the universal scheme of things, as well as Allah (SwT)’s goodness, wisdom and power. Such is the nature man is endowed with, just as the nature of lamb is meant to be gentle, and that of horse to be swift.

As it stands, working against the true nature of man, are a plethora of negative influences. Man is caught in the meshes of customs, superstition, selfish desires and false teaching. These negative influences make him pugnacious, unclean, false, slavish, hankering after what is wrong and forbidden, and deflected from the love of his fellow-men and the pure worship of ‘One True God’. The mission of religious teachers thus remains to cure the mankind of negative, satanic influences, and to restore human nature to what it ought to be under the ‘Will of Allah’. Truth ought to prevail.