Allah (Subhana wa ta’ala) has created inquisitive human beings. We question almost everything we see, hear, and feel. This ability to raise questions is not human-specific. In Surah Al-Baqarah, we find Angels, asking Allah (Subhana wa ta’ala) as to why he is placing a creation on the earth, which will cause corruption and spill blood. The underlying difference is that while the angels ask with pure intent, human questioning can be influenced by their innate shortcomings. Regardless of this, the ability to raise questions is not shunned by the Most Subtle.

This article delves into the role of questions in the Quran, highlighting the refined etiquette of posing them, an approach that tears ignorance to shreds. It also asserts that the Muslim youth must embrace the art of raising eloquent questions, following the Prophetic strategy of enlightening the hearts and conquering the empires through force of thoughtful expression.

Questions And the Quran

Questions serve as powerful tools to challenge the Status Quo, awaken critical consciousness, create dialogue and debate, and inspire movement, reforms, and continuous improvement. Allah endowed Prophet Muhammad (Alayhis salat was salam) in the Quran with such questions, which created an impact so powerful that it will keep attracting humanity to Al-Haqq till the day of Judgement. The mission of the Prophet Muhammad (Alayhis salatu was salam) was to save humanity, as stated in the Quran on multiple occasions, “And We send not the messengers except as bringers of good tidings and warners. So whoever believes and reforms – there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve.” ^[1]

The Quran quotes several questions in almost every chapter, posed for different categories of audiences that the Prophet Muhammad (Alayhis salatu was salam) dealt with. Additionally, it also records questions of the Prophets, such as Ibrahim (Alayhis salam) and Musa (Alayhis salam). Inarguably, the most robust questions are the questions Allah (Subhana wa ta’ala) himself asks. From His questions, mercy, love, compassion, care, wrath, anger and displeasure flow. Perhaps the most rhetorical question Allah (Subhana wa ta’ala) asks is, “So where are you going?” ^[2]Allah dislikes it when His servants walk away from guidance towards falsehood, as He (Subhana wa ta’ala) mentions in His book, “And when he goes away, he strives throughout the land to cause corruption therein and destroy crops and animals. And Allāh does not like corruption. And when he is told, ‘Be wary of Allah, he is led by arrogance to (more) sins.’’ ^[3]

In the Quran, Allah (Subḥanahu wa Taʿala) poses a question to both the Companions (RaḍiyAllahu Anhum) and the entire Ummah to correct their mindset. He says: “Muḥammad is no more than a messenger; other messengers have gone before him. If he were to die or to be killed, would you regress into disbelief? Those who do so will not harm Allah whatsoever. And Allah will reward those who are grateful.” ^[4]

Who, after this verse, can excuse themselves from this responsibility?

The Prophets’ Way: Questioning Power and Tradition

Our Prophets (Alayhis salam) were not like any other humans, who are manchildren with polished curriculum vitae, dead hearts, and no spirit of sacrifice. The Prophets (Alayhis salam) possessed Hilm (forbearance) and bravery to question and challenge bātil (falsehood). They shook the belief of the socio-political and economic system that was followed ignorantly. They brought the caveat ^[5] that unchecked persistence upon past experiences is arrogance, which leads to nowhere, but hell.^[6] Consider the friend of Allah, Ibrahim (alayhis salam), when he first questioned his father and people about idol worship: “˹Remember˺ when he (Ibrahim) questioned his father and his people, “What are these statues to which you are so devoted? They said, “We found our fathers worshipping them.”^[7]

The Qur’an records a similar defiance against blind imitation in the response of a group of Jews when the Prophet Muhammad (alayhis-salatu wa-salam) called them to Islam: : “When it is said to them, ‘Follow what God has revealed, they say, ‘No; but we will follow only what we found our forefathers believing in.’ Why, even if their forefathers did not use reason at all, and followed no guidance.”^[8]

Let us also recount the story of the people of Madyan, confronted by Shu’ayb (alayhis salam) for their dishonesty in trade and their exploitation through unethical business. In arrogance, they threatened him: “Were it not for your kinsmen, we would surely have stoned you, for you have no strength to overpower us.” ^[9] Shu’aib (Alayhis salam) posed a powerful question back to them- “Shu’ayb said: ‘My people! Are my kinsmen mightier with you than Allah that you (hold the kinsmen in awe while) you cast Allah behind your back? Surely, my Lord encompasses all that you do.”^[10]

Another antiquity not to be forgotten is when Allah raised Luṭ (alayhis salam) to awaken the conscience of a society so morally depraved that it abandoned its human dignity and sank into animalistic behavior .He (Alayhis salam) contested: “Why do you ˹men˺ lust after fellow men, leaving the wives that your Lord has created for you? In fact, you are a transgressing people.”^[11]

Similarly, Musa (Alayhis salam) confronted Pharaoh for the injustices and oppression he carried out on the Israelites.“How can that be a ‘favour,’ of which you remind me, when ˹it was only because˺ you ˹have˺ enslaved the Children of Israel?” ^[12]

The counterstatement of Musa (alayhis salam) is significant from the point that he didn’t lose the clarity of thought and questioned what needed to be questioned. He held onto the words of justice unapologetically.

Recapitulating the story of Ibrahim (Alayhis salam), he confronted his father, his nation, and the tyrant Nemrud. Allah reminds Prophet Muhammad (Alayhis salatu was salam) of the episode of dialogues of Ibrahim (Alayhis salam) with Nemrud,- Are you ˹O, Prophet˺ not aware of the one who argued with Abraham about his Lord because Allah had granted him kingship? ˹Remember˺ when Abraham said, “My Lord is the One Who has power to give life and cause death.” He argued, “I too have the power to give life and cause death.” Abraham challenged ˹him˺, “Allah causes the sun to rise from the east. So make it rise from the west.” And so the disbeliever was dumbstruck. And Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people.^[13]

These were Prophets (Alayhis salam) of Allah (Subhana wa ta’ala), with the highest moral characters. Their mission was not just to change what today is conceived as a “Private Affair Of Individuals” by many; rather, it encompassed the moral, socio-political, economic, and legal affairs of the nations they were sent to. Their people were ready to kill them; they planned the murder of their Prophets (Alayhis salam), who wanted nothing but good for them.^[14] But how did these unarmed, unsupported, and humble individuals become such a grave threat that those in power sought to uproot them? The answer lies in their “Courageous Questioning.”

Unquestioned Ignorance Fuels Injustice

Today, as Gaza bleeds under oppression, many of our hearts overflow with pain and rage at the brutalities inflicted by the nation of Israel. This outrage is undeniably valid. However, it must be accompanied by introspection for how we, as an Ummah, can restore integrity to our own principles, confront the injustices we’ve tolerated within, and rebuild our collective strength through accountability, unity, and an unwavering commitment to Haqq (Truth and Justice), as the true followers of Islam. We must ask ourselves: How did we reach a point where the collective plea of the Ummah for justice is met with the chillingly deafening silence of the world? We cannot simply react to injustice from the outside without confronting the silence that accompanied it within.

The passivity of Muslims during the Yemen War, for instance, allowed atrocities to unfold unchecked. Innocent lives were shattered by aerial bombardments, forced disappearances, and torture carried out by various forces including those backed by ‘Muslim’ governments. We watched, and many of us remained silent. A wide range of actors, including Houthi forces, the internationally recognized Yemeni government, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as various Yemeni armed groups backed by the UAE and Saudi Arabia have been implicated in systematic human rights violations across Yemen. These violations included arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture, and other forms of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of detainees, in contravention of Islam.^[15]

By failing to abide by Islamic ideals of justice, we allowed others to exploit our weaknesses, which only resulted in aggravation of sufferings for our fellow Muslims. How come this numbness on the part of us Muslims goes unquestioned? This silence was not a neutral act. It was the moment when we, as an Ummah, began planting the seedling of injustice within our own soil. By failing to uphold our own Islamic ideals, we allowed that seed to grow and today, we bear its bitter fruit. The suffering we now witness is not disconnected from our past failures. It is a continuation.

When the Ottomans fell, the shade of the Caliphate was snatched from Muslims. The arbitrary lines of ‘hyper-nationalism’ were drawn on the land . The Ummah of Muhammad (Alayhis salatu was salam) was dispersed across imposed borders drawn by foreign hands. This fragmentation left the Ummah exposed and vulnerable. Amidst all this, a nation rose, termed Pakistan, which was claimed to be built upon the Islamic principles. Yet what followed defied Islamic ideals, the reins of leadership fell into the hands of those who betrayed the principles upon which that nation hoped to stand. Today, we witness the abduction and extra-judicial killings of Balochis and forceful annexation by the puppet forces of the hyper-nationalistic State.^[16]

This is not specific to the State of Pakistan. Every hyper-nationalist force in the world has adopted a similar course of action in the disguise of ‘unification of a territory’ on nationalistic lines against the wish and will of the people being ruled. They assert legal title by illegal and brutal means. For instance, history records how brutally the State forces annexed Hyderabad under the name of Operation Polo.^[17]

The Balochis rightfully demand justice, fair treatment, and accountability from the State for the ongoing atrocities. Yet, it is equally important to recognize that the ideological foundation of their struggle rooted in hyper-nationalist ideals and a push for statehood modeled on global paradigms, risks replicating the very structures that have historically fostered fragmentation and division. The issue is not the pursuit of justice, but the premise it stands on. If our fight mirrors models that historically fractured the Ummah, we must rethink the principles guiding them.

Here again, the advice of our Messenger (Alayhis salatu was salam) comes to the rescue-

Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, “Help your brother, whether he is an oppressor or he is an oppressed one. People asked, “O Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ)! It is all right to help him if he is oppressed, but how should we help him if he is an oppressor?” The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “By preventing him from oppressing others.”^[18]

From the lens of this hadith, our brothers and sisters are to be helped in two manners. Firstly, they need to rectify their approach by pursuing justice through the lens of Islam instead of hyper-nationalism. Their confrontation with the State authorities should be based on their position as equal members of the Ummah. The State of Pakistan must be scrutinized for its hyper-nationalistic attitude, which it has wrongfully attempted to align with the Islamic framework. Their attitude demonstrates how oppressive and cruel its stance is in the eyes of Allah.

Secondly, the pain of Muslims’ suffering should be felt across the Ummah. The brutal State should be condemned and questioned for its wrongdoings. If the Ummah shows indifference to the suffering of Muslims, we risk opening the door to those with deviant ideologies, who may emerge as their defenders, offering support in exchange for the erosion of Imaan and the spread of misguided philosophies within them. This Ummah has faced one defeat after another ever since it abandoned the ideal of justice and turned a blind eye to the oppression of humanity at large. We cannot afford to repeat this cycle. The Ummah must begin to question.

Thus, it becomes crucial for us to reflect on our past and recognize patterns of betrayal, silence, and moral failure. We must ask difficult questions because only by identifying where the seeds of injustice were first sown, can we prevent them from growing again. Reformations are needed on the ideological footings of both, the oppressor and the oppressed.

What Are We Being Taught?

Have we ever reflected on how our identities are subtly influenced by a few individuals in positions of power? Our universities have adopted Western, Secular, and Atheistic philosophies of education, the aim of which is purely materialistic and worldly, treating education only as an economic investment. It puts heavy emphasis on relativism, the doctrine that knowledge and truth are not absolute but exist in relation to culture, society, or historical context, thereby neglecting the ethical values.^[19] It has produced materialistic personalities, who treat religion and spirituality as ‘private affairs’, separating knowledge from moral values. Their striving in this world is solely for fame, money, and high status, and if they fail, they often succumb to suicidal thoughts. The brains of the masses are projected to believe that only economic well-being can pave the way for success and progress, which is quite opposed to the Islamic concept of Tarbiyah (upbringing). A university can be named “Imam Ghazali University”, but the fact of the matter is that it cannot produce the likes of Imam Al-Ghazali (Rahimahullah).

The concept of “development” has proven remarkably effective in changing us from human beings into human-machines. Why is there no question as to why the indicators of the Human Development Index are life expectancy, education (based on materialistic principles), and per capita income? Why is there no consideration of Justice, Moral Values, Unity, Empathy, and Brotherhood as development indicators? The system has made us so self-centered that empathy, righteousness, piety, goodness, and benevolence stand alienated. Those who claim that it’s their epistemology that has civilized us through their scientific, economic, and political philosophies must introspect. If humanly propounded philosophies and scientific progress have “civilized” the world, why then was the Holocaust designed, enabled, and executed by educated professionals, civil servants, scientists, lawyers, and academics like Reinhard Heydrich, Joseph Goebbels, and Heinrich Himmler?^[20] The list is even longer. Their actions are widely documented across historical literature, showing how intellectual capacity without moral restraint can be extremely lethal. At present, the genocide carried out on Palestinians is supported, funded, and defended by the torchbearers of modern values and top-tier business tycoons^[21]. Their fallacy lies shattered.

As expressed earlier, our Prophets (Alayhis salam) and their Companions (RadhiyAllahu Anhum) were unlike any other humans, (man-children with polished curriculum vitae without moral and ethical values).Yet our lives are not guided by the lives of the best of the human beings who ever walked on the face of this earth; rather, we are projected to follow the footsteps of the doomed ones. So why don’t we question our parents and our teachers with due respect? What are we getting from our education if we don’t feel the pain that others go through? Why are we being made to focus solely on completing our degrees, while the lives of innocents are taken away unjustly? Why aren’t our lives in alignment with the ordinances of the book of Allah? Why are those forces ruling, deciding, and directing the course of our actions who are most hostile to Allah and his revealed law? Why are we more of a reflection of Ghafiloon (heedless, neglectful) than that of the Prophets (Alayhis salam) and the Companions (RadhiyAllahu ‘Anhum), who were An’amta ‘alaihim [upon whom (Allah) has bestowed favor]?^[22] Will we not be questioned for our inaction?

The Believer’s Confrontation with the Enemy

In the end, let’s understand our situation from one last perspective. Suppose a thief enters your house, and you pick up a gun to defend your family. But your father shouts out, “Why are you not preparing for tomorrow’s exam?” Would that question make any sense? No. You would rather question him back, “Father! Why don’t you pick your gun up too?” Yet he pays no heed and locks himself up in the room to prepare a report that has to be presented the next day to his very strict boss, who would otherwise insult him before all his colleagues. He turns a blind eye to the serious and grave threat. In addition, he shouts back “You want me to be humiliated before my colleagues? Woe unto you! Is it for this day I raised you?”

Would you put your gun down and let the thief set fire to whatever he wishes, for the criticism of your father is too brutal to handle? No, right? The thief is a modernist malign, and this house is your Qalb (heart). If you put your arms down before him and stop warning your people then you would lose your most valuable, “Imaan”. Ultimately the room will be given to hypocrisy and kufr (disbelief). How bad of a bankruptcy would that be! The era of trials has besieged us; the Qalb (heart) has to be guarded, the Ummah has to be defended, and as the words of Allah are supreme, they must be upheld accordingly. But how? By standing tall to the challenges and by casting challenges to the enemy forces. There has to be a confrontation. Unlike the hypocrites, the believers when they are met with the alliances of enemies, do not show their backs or turn away from Deen al-Haqq, in fact, it increases their conviction, which Allah records in His book-

“When the believers saw the enemy alliance, they said, “This is what Allah and His Messenger had promised us. The promise of Allah and His Messenger has come true.” And this only increased them in faith and submission.”^[23]

So what ˹other˺ path would you take?

Author: Azaa Junaid

A Fourth-Year Law Student at Aligarh Muslim University

References

1. The Quran [6: 48] ↑

2. The Quran [81:26] ↑

3. The Quran [2: 5-6] ↑

4. The Quran [3:144] ↑

5. Meaning: a warning to consider something before taking any more action, or a statement that limits a more general statement taken from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/caveat (last visited on 29th March 2026) ↑

6. The Quran [2:167] ↑

7. The Quran [21:52-53] ↑

8. The Quran [2:170] ↑

9. The Quran [11:91] ↑

10. The Quran [11:92] ↑

11. The Quran [26:165-166] ↑

12. The Quran [26:22] ↑

13. The Quran [2:258] ↑

14. The Quran [8:30] ↑

15. Yemen: Latest Round of Saudi-UAE-Led Attacks Targets Civilians, available at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/18/yemen-latest-round-saudi-uae-led-attacks-targets-civilians (Last Visited on July 01, 2025) ↑

16. UN experts urge Pakistan to address human rights violations in Balochistan, available at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/04/un-experts-urge-pakistan-address-human-rights-violations-balochistan (Last Visited on July 06, 2025) ↑

17. Operation Polo: The Forgotten Massacre in Hyderabad, available at: https://lawandotherthings.com/operation-polo-forgotten-massacre-in/ (Last Visited on July 01, 2025) ↑

18. Sahih al-Bukhari 2444

    In-book reference : Book 46, Hadith 5

    USC-MSA web (English) reference : Vol. 3, Book 43, Hadith 624 ↑

19. G.N Khaki, Safa Altaf, “Towards Redefining Education: an Islamic Perspective” 6/7 Kashmir Journal of Social Sciences 7 ↑

20. Browning, Christopher R. Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland. (Harper Collins, New York, 1992) ↑

21. We are Google and Amazon workers. We condemn Project Nimbus, available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/12/google-amazon-workers-condemn-project-nimbus-israeli-military-contract (Last Visited on July 13, 2025) ↑

22. The Quran [1:7] ↑

23. The Quran [33:22] ↑