Aali ‘Imraan

Name, Background and Topics

Name
It is known as Soorah Aali ‘Imraan symbolizing “The soorah in which Aali
‘Imraan has been mentioned.” Aali ‘Imraan means the house, descendents or
people of ‘Imraan1 – the father of Moosa2 and Haaroon3. As explained in Al-
Baqarah, the name of a soorah is neither its title nor topic, just a symbol.
Hence, it will not be translated, but continued to be referred to as Soorah Aali
‘Imraan.

Background
Most of the soorah was revealed to guide the Islamic movement during the
period starting soon after Quraish’s aggressive invasion was defeated at Badr
until immediately after their second major invasion was confronted at Uĥad.
Except for the verses 33-63 that were revealed in the 9 AH4 to invite Christians
of Najran to Islam, the rest of the Soorah was revealed in the very early period
of development of the Islamic society during 2AH and 3AH.

Although Allaah SWT helped Muslims win, to everyone’s surprise, against the
strong, well-equipped invading army at Badr, the defeat of the Quraish
increased the dangers to the fledgling city state of Madeenah and to the
Prophet himself. All anti-Islamic elements became active to do their part in
destroying this tiny, new state. Quraish started planning their final and decisive
attack. Assassins were being deployed to kill the Prophet. The Jews, who had
treaties with the Prophet to participate in the defence of the city, sympathized
with infidels and idolaters in violation of their treaties. Thus, they broke their
treaties with those who believed in the same One and Only God as they did,
but supported the idolaters. They went even further in their animosity. After
the war, they started instigating and inciting Quraish and other pagan tribes to
avenge their defeat. In addition, disregarding both their treaties and their long

1
Amram in the Bible
2
Moses
3
Aaron
4
After Hijrah -- the migration to Madeenah
time relations with the people of Madeenah, they would abuse and disrespect
Muslims and their women and provide logistical support and advice to the
pagans in their expeditions against Madeenah. All these threats both from
external enemies (the Makkans and other idolaters) as well as internal enemies
(the Jews of the city) had increased the risks exponentially. The conditions had
become so terrifying for the small Muslim population that was surrounded by a
sea of hostile elements that the Muslims were sleeping with their weapons by
their side, in case they were attacked during the night. Knowing the Prophet to
be the prime target, the sincere Muslims were extremely vigilant and worried
about his security lest he was killed if they were even a bit negligent in looking
after him.

This warlike, hostile environment was devastating Madeenah’s already

battered economy even more, as it was still trying to cope with the settlement
of so many displaced, empty handed immigrants.

Hardly a year had gone by when the Makkans invaded again with an army
three times stronger than before. Muslims faced the invading army at Uĥad,
and after an initial victory, suffered heavy losses because of a tactical mistake
they made in disobedience of the Prophet ŝall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. This
lack of victory on Muslims’ part convinced the enemies once again that the
Muslims could be defeated and wiped out with more effort. Hence, the enemies
intensified their hostile activities even further.

Despite these excruciatingly difficult times, implementation of Islamic reforms

continued relentlessly to make the Islamic society an ideal society of peace,
justice, fairness and excellence.

Topics
This soorah guides the Muslims towards the proper attitudes and behaviour
they need to adopt in coping with the hostile environment and the difficult
circumstances while at the same time moving towards the excellence that is the
objective of the Deen.

People of the Book (both the Jews and the Christians) have been invited to
accept the true Islam being presented to them as it was presented earlier by
previous prophets and messengers. Specifically, they have been invited to join
the Islamic society, adopt Islam as their complete system of life and become a
part of the Kingdom of God. The special emphasis in this soorah is on inviting
Christians to Islam and identifying the misguidances that they have adopted
after ‘Eesa5 AS.

Placement
This soorah is the twin of Soorah Al-Baqarah. It continues with guiding the
Islamic state and its inhabitants through its difficult period of infancy and
complements the teachings that had already been given in Al-Baqarah. Their
complementary nature to each other in completing the picture of Deen can be
understood from the following examples:

The emphasis in Al-Baqarah was on clarifying the concepts of faith and

inculcating those concepts so deeply that the believers were immersed
in the hue of Allaah SWT. The spirit of complete submission to Allaah
was presented as a natural corollary of true faith and as the desired
behaviour. Although Al-Baqarah commanded Muslims to enter into
submission in totality without leaving any aspect of their life out of the
submission to Allaah, Aali ‘Imraan emphasized in more detail the need
to fully adopt Islam as a way of life so that every believer becomes a
citizen of the Kingdom of God.

Al-Baqarah described in detail those who incurred the wrath of Allaah

and the reasons for their being cursed. It invited them to believe
sincerely in Islam to save themselves from that curse and wrath. The
invitation to them was direct. In Aali ‘Imraan, the misguidance of the
Christians has been elaborated. They have been invited to correct their
beliefs, accept Islam and join the Kingdom of God that ‘Eesa AS had
been talking about. The invitation to the Jews in this soorah is in third
person through the Prophet, after the direct invitation that had been
done in Al-Baqarah.

Thus, because of Aali ‘Imraan’s complementary role and because of its

teachings being a natural progression of the teachings of Al-Baqarah, its
natural place is immediately after Al-Baqarah. Their close relationship as twins
is indicated by Ahaadeeth as well. For example, they have been likened to the
sun and moon, both will appear in the form of two clouds on the Day of
Judgment, and both of these soorahs will intercede for those people who
dedicate their lives for understanding and implementing the teachings of the
Qur-aan.
5
Jesus
Teachings and Running Commentary
Like Al-Baqarah, this soorah also starts with the same string of three letters of the Arabic
alphabet, indicating they are the twin soorahs, complementing each other:
1
Alif, Laam, Meem.

The English equivalents of these letters are A, L, M and comments on their use have been
given already in the commentary on Al-Baqarah.

The soorah starts with a verse stating two of Allaah’s attributes: Al-Ĥayy, the ever living; and
Al-Qayyoom, the Self-subsisting Sustainer of everything. These attributes are very profoundly
related to the statements immediately following this verse as well as to one of the major themes
of this soorah – identifying the misguidance of Christians and inviting them to the right path.
2
Allaah is He besides Whom there is no God, the Ever-living, the Self-
subsisting Sustainer of everything. 3 He has revealed gradually, step by step to
you the Book with truth, fulfilling and confirming that which was there before
it. He revealed the Towraat and the Injeel 4 earlier as guidance for people, and
now He sent down the Furqaan6. Surely they who disbelieve in the revelations
of Allaah, they shall have a severe punishment; and Allaah is Almighty who
exacts the retribution.

Allaah SWT is Ever-living without any finite beginning, or end. He is Self-Subsisting without
any need of any support from anyone or anything else to sustain His life. He does not face any
difficulties in life; rather He is so powerful and resourceful that He sustains this huge,
magnificent universe with ease. Even the people of the Book believe Him to be the Living God
and the One Who sustains everything. But at the same time, the Christians believe that Jesus is
also God while they know that he needed food and nutrition for his survival, went through
many difficulties about which he complained, died and was raised. Mention of these two of
Allaah’s attributes starts the discourse with a point agreed upon among the Jews, Christians
and Muslims. It invites the Christians to think as to how can Jesus be a god, God’s partner or
equal when the reality is that he was dependent for his survival, faced difficulties, died and had
to be resurrected?

The truth is that there is no God except Allaah SWT, the Ever-living, Self-subsisting Sustainer
of everything. He sustains everything in this universe in such a way that balance, equilibrium
and justice is maintained. Although He has given human beings freedom to make choices, He
has taken upon Himself to guide them so that they can also have a sustainable, balanced, just
and peaceful society. For that purpose, He has been sending prophets and messengers with His

6
The criterion that distinguishes right from wrong.
books and guidance. Whenever people drifted away from the straight path, He sent a prophet
or messenger to bring them back on track. Finally, He had sent Prophet Muhammad ŝall-
Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam as the last prophet and messenger with the Qur-aan as the last book
of guidance.

The guidance that was revealed to Moosa AS from the time he was appointed as Messenger
until his death is called Towraah. It comprised of the stone tablets inscribed with Ten
Commandments and the scrolls containing other commandments. 13 copies were made of the
scrolls -- twelve copies for each tribe of Israelites to use, and one for preservation that was put
in the Ark of Covenant along with the stone tablets. That is the Towraah about which the Qur-
aan talks. Israelites neglected this treasure and lost this guidance. Any extant scrolls and the
ark of covenant with all its contents were completely destroyed when Nebuchadnezzar
conquered Jerusalem and demolished the temple. Later on, when Israelites were allowed back
into Jerusalem and the temple was rebuilt, ‘Uzair (Azra) recompiled the history of the Jews and
religious law on the basis of whatever he knew or could find from different elders. The first
five books of that rewritten history and law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and
Deuteronomy) are now regarded collectively as Torah, but that is not the Towraah of the Qur-
aan. The quotations from Allaah (God said ..) that have been quoted here and there in those
five books are the only remnants of the real Towraah. But even those quotations of Allaah
contained in the existing Torah are not in themselves reliable because of the doubtful sources
as well as later changes, deletions and interpolations.

The revelations from Allaah to ‘Eesa (Jesus) are called Injeel (good news) in the Qur-aan. It is
neither the four gospels nor the other books included in the New Testament of the Bible. Those
are all writings of unknown authors based on dubious sources of information written in a
biographical format rather than in the style of a book of guidance. In those writings, where the
writers have quoted Jesus, only those passages can be considered remnants of Injeel revealed
by Allaah, realizing that even their accuracy is suspect.

The only way we can identify the real teachings of Towraah and Injeel in the existing books
that are presumed to be Torah and Gospels is with the help of the Qur-aan. If a passage in those
books is line with the teachings of the Qur-aan or is confirmed by the Qur-aan, then that is a
part of the original Towraah or Injeel, as the case may be. If teachings of the Qur-aan do not
confirm the words attributed to Allaah, Moses or Jesus, then they are not part of the original
revelations. In that way, the Qur-aan is Furqaan – the criterion to establish the accuracy and
validity of earlier books.

The Qur-aan confirms the contents of the earlier books in two ways: by confirming what is
reported correctly in there, as mentioned in the previous paragraph; and, by proving the truth of
the predictions contained in those books about the advent of the last Prophet and Messenger
Muhammad ŝall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and about the Qur-aan. Although there were
prophecies about the advent of Prophet Muhammad and revelation of the Qur-aan in all of the
previous books of Allaah, it was a major theme in Injeel. In fact, Injeel is named Injeel or
gospel (both meaning good news) because one of its major goals was to give people the good
news of the advent of the Prophet Muhammad and his success in establishing the Kingdom of
God.
Now that the Qur-aan has been revealed with pure and complete truth, any of the people of the
Book who do not accept it have been warned of severe punishment. Refusing to live by
Allaah’s guidance contained in the Qur-aan is actually rejection of the peace and justice that
Allaah SWT wanted to establish through its teachings. Allaah SWT is not going to tolerate that
rejection of His prescribed teaching and system. He is going to settle the score with the
disbelievers who reject adopting and living by the Qur-aanic teachings.

People should clearly understand that Allaah knows everything in this universe. He knows
what is true or false, what is correct or incorrect, what will establish peace and justice and what
will not; He knows who accepts His guidance with sincere motives and who rejects because of
prejudices, ignorance or ulterior motives; who had a chance to discover the truth about Islam
and the Qur-aan but he did not avail it and who did not have any reasonable chance to do so;
etc.

5
From Allaah, verily nothing is hidden in the earth or in the heavens. 6 He it is
Who shapes you in the wombs as He likes; there is no God but He, the
Almighty, the Wise.

Everything that takes place through the working of the laws of nature can rightly be attributed
directly to Allaah SWT, the Creator of the nature and its ways (laws) of operating. Allaah SWT
has designed a very meticulous and detailed way of shaping human beings in their mothers’
wombs by coding it precisely in DNA, which is not visible to the human eye and was not
known or understood by human beings until very recently. Until its discovery and mapping,
people had no clue how it worked. Discoveries of things like this show how powerful and wise
our Creator is. We do not even know how many more mysteries exist in the nature of human
beings that we still have not discovered or do not understand. Only Allaah our Creator knows
everything about our nature and everything that is good or bad for us. Thus, we must fashion
our lives according to His guidance because only His guidance is definitely valid, true, good
and perfect. Whether it is the provision of the best guidance to people or it is to hold them
accountable, He has power and wisdom to do both perfectly.
7
It is He who has sent down to you (O Muhammad) the Book wherein there
are verses that convey precise, definite teachings7. Such verses are the
substance of the Book. There are other verses that convey approximate
description of transcendent8 realities. The people with warped mentality pursue
the transcendent issues seeking to cause mischief and seeking to determine
their exact nature -- while only Allaah knows their exact nature. On the other

7
Muĥkamaat: Precise, vivid, specific injunctions and teachings that people have capacity to fully
comprehend, understand and put into action.
8
Mutashaabihaat: approximate descriptions of the transcendent realities that are beyond human
comprehension, imagination, or perception; describing supernatural, abstruse and recondite facts in
human language.
hand, those who are well versed in knowledge say9, “We believe in them. They
are all from our Lord.” The fact is that only insightful people really heed. 8
They pray, “Our Lord! Do not let our thinking be warped after you have
guided us aright, and grant us Mercy from Yourself. Indeed you are the Oft-
Bestower. 9 Our Lord! You are surely going to gather people on the Day about
which there is no doubt. Verily, Allaah does not back out of assignation”.10
The guidance provided to people by the Noble Qur-aan can be divided into two major
categories:

Reminding people that they are a creation of Allaah put temporarily on the earth as a
test and that they will be held accountable on the Day of Judgement and will live
thereafter in comfort or pain forever; and explaining to them the manner in which they
should live in this temporary world so that they can have a beautiful human society to
live in and can succeed in the eternal life Hereafter. Such knowledge is the essence
and substance of the Qur-aan and the main purpose and reason for its revelation. The
Noble Qur-aan imparts this knowledge succinctly, precisely and categorically. For
that reason, the verses that convey this knowledge are called Muĥkamaat.

The right-minded people spend their time and energies learning this knowledge,
reflecting upon it and fulfilling its obligations in their private lives and implementing
it collectively in their society.

Informing people about the things they have no way of finding out except through
revelation. These are things such as the infinite attributes of Allaah, Allaah’s infinite
ways to make things happen by commanding ‘Be’; the existence and nature of angels;
the fire and punishment of Hell; the comforts and bounties of Paradise; the existence
and animosity of Shayŧaan and his efforts to mislead people; etc. Because they are
described in a human language that does not have precise words and concepts to

9
This translation follows the punctuation of the Mus-haf (Qur-aanic Scripture). A great majority of the
scholars and commentators of the Qur-aan agree that only Allaah knows the exact specifications of
Mutashaabihaat. No human being can. A few scholars have a differing view of the punctuation. They
punctuate it to render that only Allaah and the people of sound knowledge know the meaning of
Mutashaabihaat. This rendition is totally inappropriate and does not fit the context. Just the phrase
preceding it said that those whose hearts are perverse or have crooked mentality pursue Mutashaabihaat.
People with sound knowledge will have to find the exact nature of Mutashaabihaat either through
revelation or through their personal pursuit. Revelation only came to the prophets and ended with Prophet
Muhammad. Hence, any other person will have to pursue them personally to determine their exact nature,
which, according to this Aayah itself, means they have crooked mentality. How can they be sound in
knowledge and have a crooked mentality at the same time? Similarly, this rendition does not fit with
phrases afterwards where the people with sound knowledge have been reported to believe in
Mutashaabihaat without pursuing them, saying, “We believe in them. They are all from our Lord.” That is
why the great majority of scholars reject this variant opinion in punctuation. The minority that holds this
opinion consists either of Shia’s who believe that their Imaams receive special knowledge from Allaah or
the Sufis who also believe that they can receive such special knowledge. Both of these claims have no
basis in Islam.
10
Aali-Imraan 3:7-9
 describe these realities, their description approximates the reality as much as possible
given the limits of human language and understanding. Hence, they are called
Mutashaabihaat.

Except to believe in the way these things are described in the Qur-aan, no human
being has either the capacity or the need to know the exact nature of these unseen
realities. They must be believed on the basis of rational reasoning, without trying to
determine their nature precisely.

No human being has capacity to understand these things because we can understand,
conceive and visualize only what we have experienced. Anything that we have never
experienced in our life is beyond our capacity of understanding. As an example, try to
explain to a person who was born blind the concept of colour or the difference
between red and green. Or, try to explain the taste of an exotic fruit, let us say Chonsa
mango, to a friend who has never seen, smelled or tasted a mango. The best one can
do is to describe the variations or closeness of the taste and texture of that fruit as
compared to the tastes and textures of other fruits they have experienced in the past.

The vocabulary of human languages is beset with the same limitation and for the same
reason. We only have words to describe the concepts we understand. A word without
an understood concept or definition is a meaningless word. Similarly, our languages
do not have words to describe the realities we have not seen.

The Noble Qur-aan needs to describe those unseen realities through human language that has
no words to describe them precisely. Hence, it uses words and phrases that are as close to the
reality as possible. The intent is to inform people about them, not to define them exactly. The
exact definition will neither be feasible through human language nor understandable due to
lack of human capability. Hence, wise people accept those concepts as described without
trying to visualize them or to specify their exact nature. They value their time and avoid
indulging in futile exercises.

A distinction should be made between the things we do not understand because of a lack of
knowledge and the things that are absolutely beyond human capabilities. There may be some
concepts that may be beyond the understanding of an ordinary person but fully understood by a
specialist of a particular branch of knowledge. For example, a research scientist specializing in
particle physics may exactly describe a physical phenomenon in mathematical terms but a
person who has only a rudimentary knowledge of mathematics will not be able to make sense
out of it. Similarly, a Qur-aanic concept or phenomenon may be very clear and specific for a
very learned man but a not-so-precise matter of faith for a less knowledgeable person. We are
not talking about those things here. The issue here concerns those matters that are beyond
human experience.

Distinction should also be made between the messengers of Allaah and other human beings.
The messengers of Allaah are taken by Allaah through some special experiences11 that are
beyond the capabilities of other human beings. The Prophet’s personal experiences with Jibreel
are one simple example.

11
Examples of such experiences were given in Soorah Al-Baqarah, verses 259-260.
The exact determination of the nature of Mutashaabihaat (unseen, transcendent realities) is
unnecessary for two reasons: Firstly, exact determination does not add any value to our
understanding. Regardless of the preciseness of description, the concept will always remain
obscure without the benefit of personal experience. Even if the description of their exact nature
was possible in human language and was completely provided in the Qur-aan, people would
not be able to understand them because of their lack of background or experience. For
example, even the most eloquent description of the taste of Chonsa mango will not give a clear,
precise concept of its taste to a person unless he himself tastes one. It may create a strong
desire in a person’s mind, but it will not give him the precise taste.

Secondly, exact understanding is not needed for believing in these realities. We believe in
Mutashaabihaat: because they are logically sensible; because the prophets have given witness
on their existence; and, because our faith has already been firmly grounded on the basis of the
truth we witness in Muĥkamaat. Again, even for the purposes of belief, their exact description
does not add any value because, as explained earlier, regardless of the exactness of description,
we will not be able to understand them. Hence, our belief will still have to be based on logic,
Muĥkamaat, and witness of the prophets.

On these matters, the Qur-aan provides as much information as is possible for us to understand
and as is necessary to form an accurate and useful belief in them. The information provided
fulfils the objective of guidance. The wise people who are well grounded in the sound
knowledge of Muĥkamaat, in the logical foundations of Islam and in the wonderful witness
provided by the prophets, accept them as they are presented without defining their nature
precisely, generalizing any specifics or making any general things specific. They avoid
describing these realities except in the words of the Qur-aan.

On the other hand, some people who do not understand their own limitations or the reality of
the matter indulge in efforts to pin down their exact nature. The examples are: trying to define
how Shayŧaan looks like, whether he is male or female, and how he incites us or whispers
thoughts to misguide us; how the angels or their wings look like, how they travel, take human
shape or perform their duties; how Allaah blew spirit in Adam or in Maryam’s womb for Jesus;
or what are Allaah’s physical attributes, how does Allaah manage to be everywhere at the same
time or how does He use His Throne?

Only people with a crooked mentality delve into these kinds of questions. They do so with one
or both of the following motives:

Some people raise such questions just to create arguments, conflicts and mischief; to
start meaningless discussions to sow doubts in people’s minds or create confusion;
and to divert the attention of believers from real Islamic objectives to these useless
pursuits. The prime example of these people before us was that of Jews. Instead of
performing their duties assigned to them by Allaah, they spent their energies playing
games with the words used for Mutashaabihaat.

Others pursue Mutashaabihaat because they want to specify, determine and describe
them exactly or they insist on taking the words that describe the phenomena of unseen
quite literally in human terms. They usually end up becoming a victim of Shayŧaan
 and destroying their own faith either by getting absolutely confused or by deriving
wrong conclusions. The prime example of people who were in that category before us
are Christians. They took Prophet ‘Eesa’s being “kalimah12 of Allaah” literally and
tried to determine the exact nature of “Allaah’s word” and how it transformed to
become Jesus instead of understanding it to be the command of Allaah to create Jesus.
They took this approach to most of the Mutashaabihaat matters. With that attitude,
they ended up creating a religion about Jesus where he has been deified in diametric
opposition to what Jesus actually stood for. Their beliefs have become totally un-
Islamic and none of their religious dogmas makes any sense anymore. Christianity
requires blind faith because its dogmas are absolutely illogical.

There is, however, no shortage of ‘so called’ Muslims who bear Muslim names but play games
with the words used for Mutashaabihaat. They raise questions about them to create Fitnah. You
can see many of such elements busy spreading their Fitnah on different Internet forums. Then
there are others who, like Christians, tend to be very religious but their interest in religion
centres around Mutashaabihaat. For example, Muslims who indulge in Sufism also tend to get
into this dangerous territory and many Sufi sects have come up with illogical and un-Islamic
dogmas like Christians. On the other extreme are Salafis who take literal meaning of
Mutashaabihaat instead of just believing in the message being given through those approximate
descriptions. Not only do they take the words literally according to human understanding of
those words, but they also make it a matter of ‘Aqeedah. They are behaving like people in the
past who created an issue that Qur-aan being word of Allaah is a creation and insisted in
making it a matter of ‘Aqeedah.

To understand the futility of this exercise and the dangers it is fraught with, imagine a person
born blind trying to precisely define a colour and to explain it in his words to another blind
man. Also, imagine my colleague who never knew what a mango is except what I told him
about it. Now imagine him going home and describing mango to his wife. He will be safe as
long as he sticks to the description I gave him. If he started describing the taste of the mango in
his own words from the mental picture he made in his mind when it was being described to
him, can you imagine how different that description will get from the taste of a real Chonsa
mango? Hence, when describing Mutashaabihaat, we must stick with the words of the Qur-aan
without trying to explain them according to our own perceptions.

Allaah wants us to avoid both of these approaches. Instead, He wants us to be wise like those
who accept as much as they are told and do not add or reduce anything to that. They pray,

“Our Lord! Do not let our thinking be warped after you have guided us aright, and
grant us Mercy from Yourself. Indeed you are the Oft-Bestower. Our Lord! You are
surely going to gather people on the Day about which there is no doubt. Verily,
Allaah does not back out of assignation”.

The day of Judgement is when the exact nature of these realities will be right in front of us. We
will experience them first hand. That day is going to come on its own time. It cannot come
early nor can it be delayed. Until that happens we have to wait patiently and accept our
limitations as they are.

12
Literally, kalimah means a word or phrase, whether it is a statement or a command.
In addition to Muĥkamaat and Mutashaabihaat, The Qur-aan also has regulations about Ĥalaal
and Ĥaraam and historical anecdotes. A Ĥadeeth concisely describes how a Muslim should
relate with all these types of verses of the Qur-aan.

The Prophet said, “The Qur-aan has been revealed featuring five types of information:
Ĥalaal, Ĥaraam, specific teachings (Muĥkamaat), transcendent concepts
(Mutashabihaat), and anecdotes. So enjoy Ĥalaal, avoid Ĥaraam, act upon clear
teachings, believe in transcendent concepts, and learn from the anecdotes.”13

The next verse comments on another problem. Mostly, people reject the teachings of the Qur-
aan, ignore them or refuse to practice them because of their focus on their family and financial
interests. Either they do not have time to pay honest attention to the message of the Qur-aan, or
they do not want to make any changes or sacrifices for the truth that the Qur-aan presents
despite knowing that its message sounds sensible and true. To justify their behaviour then, they
fabricate invalid excuses, naively challenge its relevance to the contemporary society, raise
ignorant questions about its teachings or repeat the same old hackneyed, overused, irrational
and baseless attacks. That was mostly the reason that the Jews and Christians were not
becoming Muslims. They have been warned:

10
Those who disbelieve, neither their wealth nor their children shall ever save
them from Allaah; they are the ones who will be the fuel of the Fire. 11 Like
Pharaoh's people and their predecessors, they disbelieved Our revelations, so
Allaah seized them for their sins. And Allaah is strict in punishment.

They have been told that their reaction is exactly what was shown by Pharaoh and his people
and the disbelievers in the previous messengers. Thus, they will suffer the same consequences
as were suffered by the disbelievers of the past. The relationship between the actions and their
consequences is very direct. The punishment is not compromised in any way regardless of who
the perpetrator of the crime is. Just like them, they will be overcome in this world and face the
worst abode in the Fire in the hereafter.

12
Say to those who disbelieve: You shall be vanquished, and driven together to
Hell – an awful place indeed.

That the disbelievers will be overpowered by the help of Allaah was indicated by the battle of
Badr. If they pondered over the situation, it would have become clear to them that it was
because of Allaah’s plan to overpower the disbelievers that an ill-equipped, poorly fed, or
rather starving, group of people who came from different places to form a new society in
Madeenah only about a year ago were able to defeat an army that was more than three times
their size and that was well-equipped, well-fed and well-trained comprising of fighters from
the most powerful tribe of Arabia.

13
Reported from Aboo Hurayrah in Mishkaah
13
Indeed there was a sign for you in the two armies that confronted each other;
the (believers’) army fighting in the cause of Allaah and the other --
disbelieving army – (fighting in the cause of Ŧaaghoot14). They saw them by
the eyesight twice as many as themselves. Allaah strengthens with His aid
whom He pleases. Most surely there is a lesson in this for those who have
vision.
The confrontation at Badr between the two armies was a clear sign for all in the following
manner:

It highlighted the differences in the paradigms, lifestyles and goals of the two
opponents. On the one hand, the Makkan army was being pampered by
indulgence in drinking, music, female dance performances, pomp, boasting,
rowdiness, etc.; on the other hand, the Muslim army was busy in the
remembrance of Allaah, supplications to Him, extra worship and Ŝalaah,
fasting, humility, selflessness, discipline and order. This clearly indicted who
was fighting in Allaah’s cause to establish peace, justice, moderation and
balance and who was fighting in the way of Ŧaaghoot to maintain the status
quo of injustices, exploitation, overindulgences and wastage of resources for
the benefit of the privileged class.

All groups were able to see the signs of Allaah’s help on the side of the
Muslims, without which there was absolutely no way they could have won.
The people of the Book saw the parallels with the events of their history,
especially Israelites’ battle against Philistine in which Dawood15 killed
Jaaloot16 with a stone thrown from his sling. The idolaters of Makkah
themselves had prayed on the battle night, “Tomorrow, O Allaah, crush the
group who is causing the severance of blood relations the most.” The
Muslims saw that the Makkan leaders were killed exactly at the spots
foretold by the Prophet.

When angels came to help the believers in the battle, it appeared to the pagan
Makkans as if the Muslim army was twice the size of their own army. This
was psychological warfare launched to help Muslims by dampening the spirit
of the pagans17.

14
Any power, authority or leader that causes or encourages people to live a lifestyle other than Islamic
lifestyle of exclusive submission to Allaah.
15
David
16
Goliath
17
There are different opinions as to which army saw the other twice as many as themselves. Syed
Maudoodi interprets it to mean that although Makkans were more than three times as many as Muslims,
they distinctly appeared double the number of Muslims even at a cursory glance. Although this statement
is quite sensible and logical, it cannot be regarded as a sign. Other scholars think that Makkans were
made to appear to Muslims at the beginning of the battle as if they were only twice as many, not thrice as
many. They interpret in the light of the scenario given in the Soorah Al-Anfaal. According to that
scenario, Allaah SWT made the Makkans appear fewer to the Muslims and the Muslims appear fewer to
The next few verses describe the basic difference between the Islamic paradigm of life and the
un-Islamic (Jahiliyyah18) paradigm of life, as it is always evident from the priorities and
preferences of both groups and as it was displayed by the two armies. The reality is that most
people oppose Islam because they do not want to curtail their indulgence in pleasures of this
world for the sake of the success in the hereafter. Usually they belong to the privileged class.
They oppose Islam because they want to protect their unjust and unfair privileges, but to fool
the masses they fabricate other objections against Islam and misguide them by playing the
games with Mutashaabihaat, as discussed earlier.
14
People are obsessed with the love of the things they covet, such as: women,
children, hoarded treasures of gold and silver, branded (well-bred) horses,
cattle and crop (produce). These are the provisions of this world’s life; but
Allaah has the most excellent place for eternal stay. 15 Say: Shall I tell you
what is better than these? For those who adopt Taqwa, their Lord has Gardens
through which rivers flow to live in forever, and pure spouses and Allaah's
pleasure; and Allaah is Observant of His slaves – 16 those who say, “Our Lord!
we have indeed believed: forgive us, then, our sins, and save us from the
punishment of the Fire”; 17 and who are steadfast (patient, firm and self-
restrained), truthful (in words and deeds), devoutly obedient, who spend
(benevolently for Allaah’s cause) and who seek forgiveness in the early hours
of morning.

The objective of life for those who subscribe, intentionally or by default, to an un-Islamic or
Jahiliyyah paradigm of life is to maximize the pleasure and provisions of this world. In the old
days, this maximization attitude manifested itself in the form of desire for the things listed. As
the society changes, the manifestations change, but the psychology and attitude remains
constant. The importance given to the gratification of the sexual desire in exotic ways, love and
longing for beautiful persons, love for family and children, the attempt to maximize monetary
assets and bank balances (gold and silver), desire to have the best equipment and status
symbols (branded horses, the most expensive luxury cars, most advanced tanks and planes,
etc.), greed for more and more assets, yearning for the most exquisite food, so on and so forth.
All of people’s efforts and struggles revolve around maximizing worldly provisions, pleasures,
indulgences and achievements. When people become preoccupied with the love of these
things, they are ready and willing to sacrifice all their principles, ethics, and laws that may

the Makkans so that both remained determined to fight, thinking the other side is weak and the battle will
be an easy one. However, this verse is talking about a phenomenon that only one army experienced not
the other. Also, seeing Makkans as double the number instead of triple is not fewer enough to be
encouraged to fight. Some other scholars, in particular Maulaana Ameen Ahsan Islaahi, suggest that the
phenomenon mentioned in this verse happened during the battle when the angels came to help the
Muslims, the Muslim army appeared to the Makkans twice as many as themselves while the phenomenon
mentioned in Al-Anfaal occurred before the battle started. This seems to be the most plausible
explanation considering that this has been mentioned as one of the signs of Allaah’s help.
18
Jahiliyyah means system of life based on ignorance. All un-Islamic lifestyles or paradigms are the
lifestyles or paradigms of Jahiliyyah.
come in the way of achieving these objectives, if they can do so without being caught. This
attitude is the root of all evil and injustice in the world. What this paradigm of lifestyle ignores
is that all these accomplishments are so temporary and transient. Even the most accomplished
person in the world soon leaves everything behind. Then in the hereafter, the people living that
kind of lifestyle will end up being the utter losers and will be severely punished. At that time,
none of their wealth or family will be of any avail, as they were reminded earlier in verse 10.

On the other hand, the wise people devote all their attention and top priority to the life in the
hereafter. Their sole pre-occupation is maximizing the pleasure of Allaah SWT. Everything
else becomes subsidiary to that objective. Those who are able to live a life pleasing to Allaah
SWT, they would have much much better things for enjoyment, pleasure and fun. Not only are
they going to be better and more plentiful, but also eternal, never to disappear, diminish or fade
away. As they live a life of restraint (Taqwa) in this world while striving for Allaah’s pleasure,
they will enjoy abundance in the hereafter and will be privileged with His pleasure. This
paradigm of life develops personal excellence in the believers. They excel in everything
including establishing peace and justice in the world. They are firm in their resolve to attain
excellence and are self-restrained. They are truthful in words and deeds, devoutly obedient to
Allaah and generous in sharing their resources with others in their society. Despite all these
qualities, they continually and humbly seek Allaah’s forgiveness in the matters in which they
are not able to perform to the Islamic standard of excellence. They are the people who establish
the most beautiful, benevolent, caring, sharing, moderate, balanced, just and fair society in the
world. That is what Islam is all about.

After describing the two paradigms of life and comparing the results of each, Allaah SWT
reminds every one, especially the people of the Book, that He created people to live by the
Islamic paradigm and establish justice and peace in this world because He Himself is Just and
the maintainer of Justice, equity and balance in the whole universe.

The people who have knowledge of the functioning of this universe and who sincerely reflect
on the facts about Allaah’s creations observe that there is balance, equilibrium, equity and
fairness in everything that has been pre-programmed by Allaah SWT. The universe continues
to function and operate because of this natural balance and equity, both of which were pre-
programmed through the laws of nature. From a sub-atomic particle to the greatest galaxy,
everything is consistently programmed to function in that balanced manner. Every living thing
has been pre-programmed to maintain that balance through laws of nature and instincts. It was
only human beings and Jinns who were given freedom to make decisions in some parts of their
life, in addition to them being pre-programmed through laws of nature and instincts. This
freedom allows people either to excel, maintain justice or do wrong. To help them, Allaah
SWT taught them Islam as their Deen so that they can avoid doings wrongs and the consequent
problems those wrongs may cause in the society and so that they can maintain justice and
peace in the society, and rather, do even better than being fair by excelling in their behaviour.
Islam is the only way of life that is from Allaah and acceptable to Him and that is the only
lifestyle that can maintain peace and justice in the world. Every deviation in lifestyle from the
Islamic lifestyle creates injustice, strife and chaos in the world. To maintain peace and justice
in the world, Islam was taught to Adam and reminded to people through prophets and
messengers so that people remain obedient to Allaah by living Islam. Hence, anyone who lives
a lifestyle other than Islamic lifestyle, is rebelling against Allaah, the Creator who will hold
them accountable for this rebellion.
18
Allaah Himself, angels and those who possess knowledge give witness that
there is no god except He, the Maintainer of justice; there is no god except He,
the Mighty, the Wise. 19 Indeed, to Allaah, Deen means Islam. Those who had
been given the Book adopted different ways, although the knowledge had
already come to them, only to violate each other among themselves; and
whoever rejects the signs of Allaah, then surely Allaah is swift at reckoning.

When Allaah SWT sent His final Prophet and Messenger Muĥammad ŝall Allaahu 'alayhi wa
sallam, the people of the Book should have all accepted him and practised Islam willingly
under his guidance and leadership. Unfortunately, many of them did not. But it was not
because they lacked knowledge. It was because of their own insincere, ulterior motives. Their
worldly interests were tied to the status quo. They did not want the Islamic justice and fairness
deprive them of their undue pride and unfair practices. As their rejection of Islam was for the
consideration of the life of this world, they are being reminded that they will be held
accountable for this rejection of Allaah’s deen.

Despite the real reasons of their animosity, they used to concoct attacks on Islam to give the
impression as if there was something wrong with the religion. The Prophet and the Muslims
have been told to respond to their arguments simply by indicating that we have submitted
wholly and solely to Allaah SWT because that is the only sensible thing to do and that is the
purpose of our creation. They have also been told to invite them to do the same thing – submit
to Allaah SWT, the Creator and the Master.

20
But if they argue with you, say: “I have submitted myself entirely to Allaah
as a Muslim and so has every one who follows me;” and say to those who have
been given the Book and to the unlearned (Gentiles): “Do you submit
yourselves as Muslims?” So if they do, then indeed they found the guidance;
but if they turn back, then your duty is only to convey the message. And Allaah
does watch the slaves.

This gives a clear message that salvation is possible only if a person follows Islam exactly as
preached, practised and implemented by the Messenger ŝall Allaahu 'alayhi wa sallam. Any
deviation from the Islamic lifestyle as modelled by the Prophet is misguidance and results in
imbalance and unfairness in some form or the other; hence, unacceptable to Allaah SWT.

Although Allaah SWT wants all human beings to live the Islamic lifestyle, He wants people to
adopt it voluntarily, on their free choice, only because it makes sense to them. It must not be a
decision made under pressure or coercion. Thus, Muslims are required only to convey the
message in the best possible and the most tactful manner. If non-Muslims refuse to accept it,
they will be held accountable by Allaah who is watching every one of His slaves.

It is interesting to note how human nature does not change. The attitude of non-Muslims and
hypocrites towards Islam remains the same, regardless of the era or the level of knowledge and
advancement. So do their reasons, their questions, their objections and their attacks. Thus our
invitation to them and our response to their objections and attacks should also be the same as
advised here. Many Muslims become apologetic facing vicious attacks. Many try to rationalize
Islamic teachings and commands to appease non-Muslims. We should never step into that
game. Our invitation must be towards Islamic beliefs through a rational approach. If we do so
properly, people will realize their need to accept Islam because it is the only faith that makes
sense. In response to any objections raised to Islamic commands, we should indicate that we do
so in submission to Allaah SWT and then, we should bring the discussion back to why it
makes sense to believe in Allaah and to submit to Him.

Some people go so far in opposition of the Islamic system of peace and justice that they
persecute and kill those who stand up for Islam. The Jews had a history of doing so.
Unfortunately, the same behaviour continues during our times. The people who stand up for
Islam and work hard to establish Islamic peace and justice in the world are persecuted,
imprisoned and killed both by the so-called Muslim rulers and by non-Muslims powers alike.

21
Verily, those who reject the signs of Allaah and kill the prophets unjustly
and kill those among people who enjoin justice, give them the news of a
painful punishment. 22 They are those whose actions shall become null both in
this world and the hereafter, and they shall have no helpers.

Often people look at some of the qualities, good deeds and good projects undertaken by those
who are anti-Islam and wonder why would they be thrown in Hell. This verse clarifies that
resisting the establishment of Islamic system of peace and justice is such a serious crime in the
sight of Allaah that it nullifies all other good actions performed by a person.

Although Allaah SWT has clearly told through all prophets and messengers that salvation in
the hereafter and the establishment of a peaceful and fair society on the earth are possible only
through the practice of Islamic system of life, people keep inventing myths and theories in the
matter of Deen. One of the common ones is that the descendents of the true followers of a
prophet or messenger start thinking that they are chosen people and that, regardless of their
deeds and lifestyle, they will be entered into paradise. Even if they have to suffer a
punishment, it will be a brief one after which they will be in paradise anyway. Despite clear
pronouncement to the contrary, they keep deluding themselves. In effect, they only pick up
from the religious teachings a few segments that support their myths and forget about the rest.
They are being warned:

23
Just look at those who are given a portion of the Book. They are being
invited to the Book of Allaah to settle their differences, then a group of them
turns away; and they are those who disregard. 24 This is because they say, “the
fire shall not touch us but for a few days”; thus their self-invented ideas
deceive them in the matters of their Deen. 25 But how will they fare when We
shall gather them together on a day about which there is no doubt, and
everyone shall be paid exactly what it has earned, and they will not be
wronged?
Allaah SWT had the whole plan of guidance for human being in His eternal Book that is
referred to as “The Book” in the Qur-aan. As mentioned earlier, that guidance was designed to
help people live in a balanced way to maintain justice and peace in their societies. As the
human society was evolving, they were provided appropriate guidance according to their
evolving needs through the messengers of their time. This process continued until the humanity
fully matured and the final and complete guidance was sent in the form of the Qur-aan though
the final Prophet and Messenger of Allaah. Thus, in verse 23, the portion of the Book refers to
the revelations to the messengers from Moosa to ‘Eesa ‘alayhimussalaam which people of the
Book should have been following. The Book of Allaah refers to the Noble Qur-aan the final
and complete guidance from Allaah for all human beings until the Day of Judgment.

Even from the guidance given to them, the Jews and Christians had abandoned and even lost
most of the revelations sent to the messengers from Moosa to ‘Eesa ‘alayhimussalaam. They
have been following only a small part of the guidance sent for them to live by. Ideally, they
should have welcomed the revelation of the Qur-aan and eagerly and enthusiastically adopted
it because it was completing the guidance that the previous messengers brought to them. But
despite abandoning the guidance revealed for them earlier and despite rejecting the complete
Book revealed to the Prophet ŝall Allaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, they continued to dream
attainment of salvation and being punished only briefly.

In the past, it was the Jews who had that kind of attitude and suffered from such delusions. But
now the majority of Muslims have joined their ranks. Recitation of these verses should be a
wake up call for all Muslims that we need to practice Islam fully as a complete package
contained in the Qur-aan and implement the Islamic system of life completely if we want to
attain salvation in the hereafter and peace, justice, respect and our rightful place in this world.

The main source of the Israelites’ misunderstanding of Deen was their notion that they were
the chosen people as a race; while, in fact, it had nothing to do with their genealogy.
Originally, Ibraheem AS was chosen for the leadership of the nations because of his
outstanding submission to Allaah and his total dedication to the Islamic mission. It was
clarified right at that time that this leadership was linked to the quality of performance in
obedience to Allaah and to the level of efforts undertaken for the supremacy of Islam. It is
totally irrelevant as to which family or tribe people belong to or what religious claims a
community makes. Previously, Israelites were charged with the responsibility of establishing
the Islamic system of life in the world and of leading people of the world in that respect. They
were chosen for this honour, but they performed terribly. So now this responsibility was being
given to the Muslims. In Al-Baqarah, after indicting the Israelites in detail and firing them
from this important role, Muslims were appointed for this task. But here, instead of a direct
statement to that effect, it has been expressed indirectly through an acknowledgement of
Allaah’s absolute authority over such matters of the world and a du‘aa (supplication) by the
Prophet and the Muslims, as taught by Allaah Himself:

26
Say: “O Allaah, Owner of the Kingdom! You give the kingdom to whom
You want and take it away from whom You want, and You bestow honour to
whom You want and bring dishonour to whom You want. In Your hand is the
good; surely, You have power to do all things. 27 You make the night enter into
the day and the day into the night, and You bring living out of the dead and the
dead out of the living, and give provisions to whom You want without
counting.”

This acknowledgement of Allaah’s total authority and power over affairs of the world and the
subtle form of du‘aa for the goodness and provisions from Allaah is teaching many important
points:

1. Any leadership, honour, status or provisions is not the right of any people, and it
should never be taken as such. It is something that Allaah bestows upon whoever He
wants and he takes away from whomever He wants. Allaah SWT has full authority
over these matters.

2. The circumstances are not permanent for anyone or any nation or any people. They go
around like the cycle of day and night.

Given the above two important points, one should also remember that Allaah SWT does not
bestow with or deprive of these things haphazardly. He does so according to His ultimate plan
and the goals He has set for human society.

3. Individually, good or bad circumstances are neither rewards nor punishments of

Allaah but only tests for which people have been sent to this world. The ultimate
personal success of everyone depends on how a person behaves in a set of given
circumstances. No circumstances are better or worse from that perspective. Both good
and bad conditions are equally hard from the test of obedience to Allaah SWT. People
can change their individual circumstances through their own efforts to some extent.
The chances of the success of their efforts can be improved through du‘aa and, thus,
with the help of Allaah SWT. But other than responding to the sincere du‘aa that is
properly backed with the best human effort, Allaah SWT does not interfere in these
matters so that the individual freedom of people through which they are being tested
is not affected. This is Taqdeer of individuals.

4. Collectively, Allaah SWT deals with communities and nations according to what is
called sunnah of Allaah in the Qur-aan. The most important aspect of the sunnah of
Allaah is that the Muslims will have the power, authority and leadership in the world
if they remain truly submissive to Allaah and are committed to establishing the
complete Islamic system of life in their society and around the globe. If they are
negligent in these Islamic objectives, they are overpowered, subjugated and
dishonoured by their enemies. If they continue to lack in their commitment to their
faith and in working for the Islamic objectives despite reminders from different
Messengers, they are totally discarded by Allaah and replaced by a new community of
Muslims. This is what happened to the Israelites. The bad situation in which the
contemporary Muslims find themselves is also the consequence of their lack of
commitment to establishing Islam as a total system of life. Their situation is not going
to improve until they rededicate themselves as an ummah to that Islamic objective.

5. The transfer of leadership from non-Islamic forces to the Muslim Ummah is neither
easy nor instant. The transition happens through a gradual and extremely painful
 process. It is like bringing life out of dead matter and converting living things into
dead. The community taking up this mantle of leadership of the world to invite people
to Islam and to establish Islamic system of peace and justice in the world has to go
through many difficulties, make many sacrifices and bear many hardships. Only then
do they succeed in it. And if they relent or relax, they lose it.

As disbelievers already have power, wealth, authority and influence over the affairs of the
world, during the transition, Muslims should be very careful in their dealings with them if they
want their movement and mission to succeed.

28
Let not the believers take the unbelievers as allies other than believers.
Whoever does this, he shall have nothing to do with Allaah, unless you save
yourselves from them very carefully. Allaah warns you of Himself; and to
Allaah is your eventual coming.

A movement or mission succeeds only when the members of the community make the mission
the most important thing in life so that their love and loyalties are dedicated to it. They keep
the interest of the mission above all other things in their lives. If something comes in the way
of the mission, they sacrifice it for the mission. However, some sympathisers of a movement or
those not so dedicated to its objectives may continue their cozy relationships with anti-
movement elements. Such relationships may make them behave in favour of their relationship
that may compromise, knowingly or unknowingly, the interest of the movement. At the time of
this revelation, there were some Muslims, who had such relationships with the Jews or other
anti-Islamic elements. They are being warned that this behaviour is not acceptable to Allaah
SWT.

The kind of relationship that is being talked about here is called walaa – a relationship of
loyalty and faithfulness that is in expectation of some kind of support, protections, help or
benefit from a non-Muslim wali19. This is the kind of relationship that puts a person in a
situation where he is prone to compromise on his principles or the interest of the movement for
the pleasure and approval of the wali or for one’s loyalty to that wali. This kind of relationship
with any non-Muslim nullifies one’s relationship with Allaah SWT. It should not be confused
with having normal, cordial and courteous relationship with non-Muslim neighbours,
colleagues or relatives. A Muslim must be kind, nice, courteous, cooperative, helping and
giving to the non-Muslims. But the relationship should not be based on expecting favours or
should never be such that our principles or the interest of Islam or Muslims are compromised
for the sake of that relationship.

Usually those who establish these relationships with anti-Islamic elements do so secretly and
for ulterior motives that they do not want to reveal. Hence, people are being reminded that
nothing is hidden from Allaah and the record of everything will be presented on the Day of
Judgment.

19
A guardian, ally, protector or close friend.
29
Warn them: Whether you hide what is on your minds or disclose it, Allaah
knows it; and He knows whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the
earth, and Allaah has power to do all things. 30 On the Day when everyone
shall find present what it has done of good and what it has done of evil, it shall
wish there were a long duration of time between it and that day. But Allaah
warns you of Himself. And Allaah is compassionate to His slaves.

Muslims are explicitly being warned that if they make compromises for the sake of the benefits
they expect from non-Muslims in the temporary life of this world, they should note the
warnings from Allaah SWT. They will have to bear the consequences of breaking their
relationship with Allaah for eternity while the consequence of the worldly relationship is
merely a matter of a short period of time. It is the kindness of Allaah that He keeps warning
people so that they do not forget the consequences. He is also kind to His slaves because He is
forgiving for any mistakes made inadvertently or for any slippage due to normal human
weakness.
31
Inform them: If you love Allaah, then follow me, Allaah will love you and
forgive you your sins, and Allaah is Forgiving, Merciful. 32 Advise them: Obey
Allaah and the Messenger; but if they turn back, then surely Allaah does not
like the disbelievers.

Muslims are now being reminded that the essence of faith is love of Allaah SWT that must be
substantially stronger than the love one may have for anything or anyone else. Thus, if
someone is a true believer, and therefore, loves Allaah SWT, then the only option that person
has is to follow the footsteps of the Prophet, making the Prophet’s priorities one’s own
priorities and living the life that he lived. If that is the attitude and paradigm of life, then Allaah
will love you and forgive your shortcomings. On the other hand, if other considerations are
taking priority over what Allaah and His Messenger want us to do, then that is disbelief, not
Islam.

This concludes the introductory discourse of Soorah Aali-‘Imraan that sets the stage for the
points discussed in the rest of the Soorah.
The next discourse was revealed in the 9th year after Hijrah when a Christian delegation from
Najraan20 came to visit the Prophet in Madeenah on a fact-finding mission. It was revealed to
invite them to Islam. Before this revelation, Soorah Maryam had already given a detailed
account of the birth of Yahyaa and ‘Eesaa ‘alayhimussalaam. Similarly Soorah Nisaa had also
talked about ‘Eesa not being crucified or killed on the cross. As discussed earlier in the
introductory comments of Al-Faatiĥah, Al-Baqarah and this Soorah, this discourse was
included here by the command of Allaah SWT for introducing the misguidance of Christians
after giving details in Al-Baqarah of the reasons for Allaah’s anger on the Jews.

For anyone reading the Noble Qur-aan from the beginning, this is the first occasion where the
births and missions of the Prophet Yahyaa and ‘Eesa have been mentioned. It presents a good
opportunity to very briefly review the historical perspective of their missions.

Allaah SWT taught Adam the Islamic way of life. However, with Shayŧaan’s incitement and
their own follies, his progeny started worshipping idols and abandoned Islam. Nooh AS was
sent to bring them back to Islam and to re-implement Islamic system of life in the society.
When Nooh failed to win back the majority of the people of his time to Islam, the rejecters
were destroyed so that his followers, the Muslims, could set up a new human society on the
basis of Islamic principles of justice. Over time, when human society drifted again to the
idolatry and an un-Islamic system of life, Ibraheem was assigned to bring them back to Islam
and re-establish Islamic system of peace and justice in the land. After Ibraheem, this job of
ensuring that the Islamic system of life continued to be practised properly was permanently
assigned to the progeny of Ibraheem. From among the descendents of Ibraheem, finally it
became the responsibility of progeny of ‘Imraan, Moosa’s father. Although the leadership of
the mission was the mandate of ‘Imraan’s descendents, Israel as a nation was given the
responsibility of living according to Islam themselves, ensuring that the complete Islamic
system of life remained the order of their society and they lead other nations to Islam, bringing
them under the Islamic system of peace and justice. Unfortunately, they abandoned their
responsibility. Instead of living by Islam, they created their own religion called Judaism and
adopted many un-Islamic practises. Many prophets and messengers were sent to them but they
would not listen. They even killed some of the prophets, and rejected or persecuted others.

The situation, obviously, was not acceptable to Allaah at all. He decided to remove the Jews
from the privilege of heading the Islamic movement, as has been mentioned previously. But
before firing them, out of His Mercy, He wanted to give them a last chance in an extraordinary
manner. If they would not reform on this final opportunity afforded to them, they would incur
the wrath of Allaah forever. That is why they were given this opportunity in a stupendous way
through Yahyaa ‘alayhissalaam (John the Baptist) and ‘Eesa ‘alayhissalaam (Jesus). Both of
them were conceived in extraordinary circumstances which are described in the ensuing verses.

The discourse first alludes to the fact that both of them, although special in the way they were
born, were none-the-less descendents of human beings. Like their forefathers, they were sent
for the same Islamic mission for which the final Messenger of Allaah, Muĥammad ŝall Allaahu
'alayhi wa sallam has been sent. After this important declaration for the reflection of the
people, the story starts with the mother of Maryam.

20
A territory between Hijaz and Yemen consisting of 73 townships inhabited by Christians. Tafheemul
Qur-aan Vol. I, note 29 to Aali ‘Imraan.
33
Verily, Allaah chose Adam and Nooĥ21 and the family of Ibraheem and the
family of ‘Imraan over everyone in the universe. 34 They were descendants one
of another; and Allaah is Hearing, Knowing. 35 He was listening when the
woman of ‘Imraan said: My Lord! I do dedicate to You what is in my womb,
freed from everything for your service, so accept this of me; surely You are the
Hearing, the Knowing. 36 So when she delivered her, she said: “My Lord! I
have delivered a female” -- and Allaah knew quite well what she had delivered
– “and the male is not like the female, and I have named her Maryam22, and I
give her and her offspring into Your protection from the Shayŧaan, the
outcast.”

The mother of Maryam was a righteous woman of a pious family from the descendants of
Haaroon ‘alaihissalaam (Aaron, peace be upon him). She prayed to Allaah for a son. When she
became pregnant, hoping to have a son, she decided to dedicate her child to the temple for the
service of the Lord, freed from all worldly obligations. Upon delivery, she was a little
disappointed to have a girl, not a boy as she was hoping. A girl was not normally devoted to
the service of Lord in the Temple because of some vulnerabilities females had which males
were free from. However, her vow was to devote the baby in her belly, which she still needed
to fulfill.

Allaah could have easily given her a son, but He had a special plan for her daughter, a plan that
a son could not have fulfilled. Not knowing Allaah’s plans, she reluctantly and shyly presented
her daughter to Allaah. Allaah appreciates the devotion and piety equally from males and
females. Therefore, Allaah accepted Maryam for His service and made arrangements for her
best upbringing. When Maryam was old enough to be dedicated to the service of the Lord, she
was brought to the temple authorities. It created some difference of opinion. The big issues to
be resolved were whether she should be accepted for devotion, under whose care she should be
kept if accepted, and what special arrangements were needed to be made for her
accommodation. The issues were resolved and, by lottery, it was decided to put her under the
care of Zakariyyaa (Zachariah) who was one of the very pious and respected servants of the
Lord and also happened to be a relative of Maryam.

Maryam dedicated herself to the worship of Allaah secluding herself in one of the easterly
quarters dedicated for the people in the service of Lord. She had put a curtain on her quarter for
privacy and for avoiding distractions from her devotion.
37
So her Lord accepted her with full acceptance and made her grow up with a
good upbringing, and assigned her to the care of Zakariyyaa23. Whenever
Zakariyyaa entered the sanctuary to see her, he found her with sustenance. One

21
Noah
22
Mary
23
Zachariah
day he asked: “O Maryam, from where do you get this?” She answered: “It is
from Allaah. Indeed, Allaah provides to whom He wants without counting.” 38
Right there Zakariyyaa prayed to his Lord, saying: “My Lord! Grant me from
You good offspring; You indeed are the Hearer of prayer.”

Due to her utmost devotion to Allaah, Maryam had become spiritually very strong and very
close to Allaah. Zakariyyaa, her guardian, would experience extraordinary manifestations of
her spirituality. Whenever he would go to take care of her needs, he would be overwhelmed by
observations. He would usually see provisions of life with her which Maryam could not have
had access to. On inquiry, he would be told that it was all from Allaah. He was so impressed
with her devotion and spirituality that he wanted to have a pious child like her.

Zakariyyaa did not have any children. His wife was barren and he himself had grown old - past
the age when a man can have children. Even then he could not resist his longing for a pious
son. Right there he prayed to Allaah quietly, “Lord, my bones have become frail and my head
is all grey with old age and I have never been unblessed in my supplication to you. I am
concerned if my kinsmen will be able to continue on with the Islamic heritage. Though (I am
old) and my wife is barren, please grant me a pious heir (son) who will carry on the heritage of
the posterity of Ya‘qoob (Jacob) and will keep you happy.”24

39
Soon after, the angels called him while he stood praying in the sanctuary:
“Allaah gives you the good news of Yaĥyaa25, who will confirm a word of
command from Allaah, will be masterful yet restrained, and a prophet from
among the righteous.” 40 Zakariyyaa wondered: “My Lord! How can I have a
son when old age has already come upon me, and my wife is barren? The angel
responded, “So it will be, Allaah does what He wants.” 41 Zakariyyaa said:
“My Lord! Assign for me a sign.” He said, “Your sign is that you will not be
able to speak to people for three days except through gestures. So use that time
to remember your Lord plentifully and to glorify Him day and night.”
Subsequently, when Zakariyyaa was worshipping Allaah in Salaah in the sanctuary, an angelic
voice gave him the good news that he will be granted a son who shall be named Yahyaa (John)
and who will announce and confirm a person who will be born by the command of Allaah
instead of the natural process of human birth. He was also told that Yahyaa would be a
respectable and masterful leader of the Islamic mission, very restrained in his response to
opposition and his consumption of worldly resources and one of the pious prophets.
Zakariyyaa was not sure if it was just the repercussion of his intense desire or a real answer to
his prayer. Knowing his and his wife’s physical condition, he could not believe his ears. To
validate the news, he addressed his astonishment to Allaah instead of talking back to the angel.
Some more detail of the angel’s reply to Zakariyyaa’s question to Allaah SWT is described in
Soorah Maryam as, “So will it be. Your Lord says that it is easy for Him. He created you (the

24
Maryam 19:4-6
25
John
human being) before when you did not exist.”26 Zakariyyaa asked for a sign to be perfectly
sure that the message was from Allaah. The sign given to him was that for three days he would
not be able to communicate with people except through some gestures. He was also told that he
should spend all that time in Allaah’s praise and His worship. So when he came out of the
sanctuary, he could not talk to people and gestured them to glorify and praise Allaah day and
night.27

Yahyaa was born as promised. From his childhood, he demonstrated wisdom, understanding
and sound judgment. He grew up to be very compassionate, sensitive, pure in his intentions
and pious in his actions and behaviour. He was also extremely obedient and dutiful to his
parents.28

He dedicated his adult life for the Islamic movement appealing passionately to people to come
back to Islam. He persuaded people to repent. As a symbol of repentance, they were required
to take a bath so that the spiritual purity was complemented by the physical cleanliness.

Yahyaa emphasized the importance of caring, sharing, correcting the worldly affairs according
to the religious principles and reforming the overall lifestyle in general by adopting the Islamic
way of life. He taught the penitents to practise frequent fasting and prayers.29 His mission of
repentance and reformation was succeeding quite well in some parts of Judah. When he
criticized the rulers and the establishment on their non-Islamic activities, it was not taken
kindly. He was imprisoned. Subsequently on the demand of a dancer, he was beheaded. That
way another noble prophet was killed by the Jews after witnessing the miracles, personal piety
and nobility of the person and his dedication to Allaah.

The people who had pledged their repentance through Yahyaa formed a powerful,
revolutionary group dedicated to bring the change in the top echelons of power. He himself did
not lead any revolutionary movement because he was just paving the way for ‘Eesa
‘Alayhissalaam to lead that movement. The members of the group were called Essenes,
Zaddikim (Zadokites, Testifiers of truth), Sons of Zadok (Truth), and Sons of Light. Because
of their wearing of only white garments and their commitment to spiritual and physical purity,
they were called ‘Hawaariyyoon’, ‘the white garment people’ by the Noble Qur-an.

Maryam continued in her devotion to Allaah in seclusion until she also had some visitations
from angels.

42
At one occasion, angels called: “O Maryam! Allaah has indeed chosen you
and purified you. He has chosen you over the women of the world. 43 O
Maryam! Obey Allaah devoutly, prostrate yourself, and bow down with those
who bow.” 44 These are from the news of the unseen that We reveal to you.
You were not with them when they cast their pens to decide which of them
26
Maryam 19:9
27
Maryam 19:11
28
Maryam 19:12-15
29
Matthew 9:14 and Luke 11:1
should take care of Maryam, nor were you with them when they disputed. 45
Nor, when an angel said: “O Maryam! Verily, Allaah gives you good news of a
word of command whose name will be Messiah ‘Eesa son of Maryam. He will
be distinguished in this world and the hereafter and one of the close ones to
Allaah. 46 He will speak to people while an infant in the cradle and when of old
age, and will be one of the righteous.” 47 She wondered: “My Lord! How shall
I have a son when no man has touched me?” The angel responded: “So it will
be, Allaah creates what He wants. When He decides to do something, He only
says to it, ‘Be!’ and it happens.

One day the angel Gabriel (the Holy Spirit) appeared to Maryam (Mary) in a perfect human
form. Seeing a stranger in her private quarters of worship, she was apprehensive. Gabriel
introduced itself to her and told her the purpose of its visit was to give her the news that she
was going to have who would be created in her womb by Allaah’s command. He also told her
that: Although he would be born without a father, Allaah would not let him face the ignominy
of being fatherless; he would have honour in this world and he would be one of those who
would be close to Allaah in the Hereafter; he would speak to people in the cradle as well as in
his old age and thus because of the miracle of his birth and his talking as an infant, he would be
a clear sign of Allaah to Israelites. He will grow up to be a messenger of Allaah to Israelites,
fully equipped with knowledge of the Book and wisdom. In response to her bewilderment on
the news, she was told, “So it will be! Your Lord says, ‘it is easy for Me and We will make
him a sign for people and a mercy from Us’.” It is easy for Allaah because He just decides a
matter and it automatically happens. Gabriel also told her that she did not have a choice as the
birth of the son and his mission were already decided upon and decreed by her Lord.30

Maryam became pregnant. She took her guardian and family in confidence and decided to
spend her remaining term until delivery at some remote place (Bethlehem). She could not have
continued to live in Jerusalem after the pregnancy became apparent. Despite her noble
heritage, her personal dedication to Allaah and her superior spirituality, who was going to
believe her that she had not broken the sanctity of her vow by having a sexual relation and that
the pregnancy was because of the ‘Command’ from Allaah? No human would have ever
believed her. To avoid accusations, rumours and gossip, she simply moved out of town.

In her self-imposed exile, she was quite distraught at the time of delivery. The pangs of
childbirth drove her to seek the support of a date palm. Worried as she was, an angel called her
to render support and solace to her. He indicated to her, “Grieve not, O Maryam, Your Lord
has provided a stream right close to you. Shake the date palm whenever you are hungry, it will
drop upon you ripe, fresh dates. So eat, drink and be contented. If you come across any person,
just tell him that you are keeping a fast of quietness for Allaah and for that reason cannot talk
to anyone.”31

30
Maryam 19:21
31
ibid 19:23-26
After recuperating from the effects of delivery, she came back to her folks carrying the infant,
‘Eesa (Jesus). People were flabbergasted to see Maryam with a child. Naturally, she was
questioned about it. People gathered around her wondering how she got a baby and exclaiming
about how an unwed woman who is dedicated to Allaah’s service and who is the daughter of a
very righteous and noble mother could have a child. They assumed the worst.

Regardless of what she would have said, no one would have believed her.. So Allaah helped
her with another miracle. As per the instructions from Allaah through the angel, she pointed
out to the child that he would explain the matter. People were annoyed by her gesture,
wondering how they could talk to an infant. But the infant did speak. Jesus miraculously talked
to the people saying, “I am a servant of Allaah. He is going to give me a book and appoint me
a prophet. He has made me blessed wheresoever I be and has enjoined me to establish Salaah
and pay Zakaah as long as I live. He has made me kind and dutiful to my mother, and not
oppressive or hardhearted. Peace upon me the day I was born, the day I will die (the natural
human death) and the day I shall be raised back to life (on the day of Judgment).”32

This was, in fact, not only a manifest vindication of Maryam from any sort of wrong doing, but
also a clear indication to the Jews that the child was a special person from Allaah who must be
listened to and obeyed when he would grow up and bring the message. His credibility as a
prophet was established right there so that he would be readily accepted as a messenger of
Allaah when he grew up.

This was a tremendous sign that was given to the Jews so that they can see the Truth and come
readily back to Allaah in obedience. Indeed they were given the last chance in a splendid way
so that any one who had any goodness in one’s heart would automatically get attracted to
Allaah and His Messenger. If they did not listen to the messenger after such a tremendous sign,
it would clearly indicate that they were never going to listen. He was a mercy of Allaah to
them because he was sent to save them from losing their special status as the chosen people.
They were cursed only after they rejected even such a clear sign and mercy of Allaah.

At this point it is important to note the common points and differences between the two births
mentioned in preceding paragraphs. It is evident that neither the birth of Yahyaa nor of ‘Eesa
was possible under the normal operation of the laws of nature. Both were conceived
miraculously – only by Allaah’s intervention. For both of the miracles, the angels quoted
Allaah SWT saying, “It is easy for Me.”33 The only difference between the two was that
Yahyaa’s birth was more intuitive for people than ‘Eesa’s. The conception of Yahyaa was a
miracle because of the physical incapability of his parents. Through it, Allaah SWT
demonstrated His authority, “To DO whatever He wants”. The conception of ‘Eesa was a
miracle because it occurred without a father. Through it, Allaah demonstrated His power, “To
CREATE whatever He wants.” This difference was necessary because Allaah SWT wanted to
make ‘Eesa a sign for people.

Although the words and style used to describe the incident of his birth in such a detail clearly
indicate its miraculous nature, some people who are bent on denying miracles try to twist the

32
ibid 19:27-33
33
ibid 19:9, 21
words to make it appear as if it was an ordinary birth. However, regardless of how hard they
try to manipulate the meanings, they cannot explain why Allaah took the unusual step to
describe the episode of his birth. If it was to dispel the notion of his fatherless birth, why was it
not simply stated as such? Why was it described in a manner that actually perpetuated that
notion? They also cannot escape the reality that Allaah SWT singled ‘Eesa out of all prophets
and messengers to mention him with a kunniyyah34 to his mother. Firstly, only the Qur-aan
mentions him as such, no other religious book names him like that. Secondly, no other prophet
has ever been mentioned with kunniyyah. Had there been no extraordinary reason, he would
have been described only by his first name like all other messengers. Thirdly, had there been a
father, the Qur-aan would have attributed him clearly to his father to dispel the notions of
Immaculate Conception and his being Son of God. Instead, the Qur-aan specifically attributes
him to his mother indicating that he had no father. That is why he is so uniquely mentioned in
the Qur-aan as son of Maryam.

48
The angel continued, “And Allaah will teach him the Book and the wisdom
and the Towraah and the Injeel. 49 And will assign him as His Messenger to
Israelites.” Then as a messenger, ‘Eesa addressed Israelites saying, “I have
come to you with a sign from your Lord, in that I make for you a bird-like
figure out of clay, then I breathe into it and it becomes a bird with Allaah's
command; that I heal the blind and the leprous, and bring the dead to life with
Allaah's command; that I inform you of what you eat and what you store in
your houses. Most certainly, there is a sign in this for you, if you happen to be
believers. 50 I am here to prove the truth of what is before me from the
Towraah and to allow you a part of what has been forbidden to you. Thus, I
have come to you with a sign from your Lord; therefore’ adopt Taqwa of
Allaah and obey me. 51 It indeed is Allaah Who is my Lord and your Lord, so
submit to Him like slaves – That is the straight path.”

‘Eesa ‘alayhissalaam (Jesus) grew up to be the kind of person he had indicated in his infancy
speech that he would be. In addition to his miraculous birth that had already clearly indicated
to the Israelites that he was a special person from Allaah, he was given astounding miracles to
leave no doubt in people’s minds that he was a messenger of Allaah. Two of the miracles
mentioned by the Qur-aan are not reported in any Christian literature anywhere: The miracle of
making live birds out of clay models and the miracle of informing people what they have
stored in their houses. The Qur-aan has done a favour to humanity by preserving the
knowledge lost by the Jews and Christians.

It was also announced clearly by ‘Eesa AS that he is a messenger only to Israelites, not to the
rest of the world.

As the messenger of Allaah, his mission went far beyond the mission of prophet Yahyaa. The
mandate given to ‘Eesa ‘alayhissalaam was to bring the actual change in the political and

34
Kunniyyah is naming a person by attribution to a parent or child such as son of abc or father of xyz.
social structure of the society so as to practically establish the Islamic state35 with him and his
followers heading the state wresting the control of the society form the ruling class and the
establishment. His job was to complete the revolution for which groundwork at the grassroots
level had already been done to a fair extent by Yahyaa ‘alayhissalaam.

The role of Yahyaa as compared to ‘Eesa illustrates one of the basic differences between a
prophet of Allaah and His messenger. A prophet generally concentrates his work on inviting
everyone back to the existing book and sharee‘ah, encouraging them to repent and calling them
to re-establish Islam as a complete system of life. A messenger is responsible for bringing the
updated book and sharee‘ah, revolutionizing the society completely, uprooting the non-Islamic
systems of life, challenging the status quo and establishing Islam as a complete way of life in
every aspect of life including the political and social order of the society. With additional
responsibility, the messenger’s life is always protected from the enemies by Allaah. The
mission continues until either the society accepts the changes and follows the Messenger; or
the messenger migrates taking his mission to another area while the society left behind is
punished by Allaah. Allaah’s policy regarding the messengers is that their enemies are never
allowed to overtake or overpower the messengers. This policy is clearly evident from the lives
and missions of Nooh (Noah), Ibraheem (Abraham), and Moosa (Moses). And Allaah is
always consistent in his policies.

To play his role, Allaah SWT taught him the Book, Towraah, which described the Deen of
Islam as a complete system of life. The Israelites had lost most of its teachings, ignored them,
and added to it whatever customs and heresies their religious leaders wanted to add. ‘Eesa AS
confirmed what was true from Towraah and invited Israelites to practice it properly and
differentiated it from whatever they had invented themselves. Because his advent was foretold
in the Towraah, his advent and mission confirmed the truth of those predictions. Thus he
confirmed the Towraah in both of these ways.

Not only had Israelites forgotten much of the Towraah or ignored it, but also had they lost the
true spirit of its teachings and the true sense of what is important in Deen and what is not
important. Thus, in addition to the knowledge of Towraah, he was taught wisdom, Injeel, how
to best put the teachings of the Towraah in practice so that instead of fulfilling the letter of law,
the spirit of the rules were fulfilled and the objectives of Deen were attained, including what
should come first, what should be given more significance, what should be de-emphasized, etc.

Judaism had become a very cumbersome, difficult to follow religion; both as a punishment
from Allaah for their obduracy and because of their own over-emphasis on Fiqh and nit-
picking rules, heresy, and un-Islamic traditions. ‘Eesa AS’s job as a messenger was also to
remove many of those burdens by bringing Israelites back to objective orientation of Deen of
Islam from a rule-laden Jewish religion36.

35
According to Gospels, he called it kingdom of God – a society where God rules every aspect of life.
For example, it was expressed in the prayer taught by Jesus. Matt. 6:10
36
See Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit; and
you will find rest. For the yoke I will give you is easy, and the load I will put on you is light.”
He exhorted them to come back on the track of the straight path by adopting Taqwa of Allaah,
(being conscious of His Presence and dedicated to seeking His pleasure) and by obeying him,
Allaah’s messenger.

He repeatedly invited them to adopt complete slavery and servitude of Allaah, submitting
unconditionally to Him in obedience in every facet of life. Although Jews believed in Allaah,
He or His service was not one of their priorities in life. Their life, including that of their priests
and religious people, was dominated with every desire, aspiration and concern but Allaah.
Hence, when asked about the most important commandment,37 ‘Eesa ‘alayhissalaam
emphatically told them, “You must love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, all your soul
and all your mind.38” He went further and also told them the second most important
commandment, i.e., “Love your neighbour (fellow human beings) as yourself.”39 With these
two sentences, he gave the gist of Islamic teachings; i.e. to give priority to fulfilling the duties
to Allaah (the Master) and to the fellow human beings. This emphasis was important
considering the self centred attitude of the society that had forgotten these two responsibilities
and was focused on minding each person’s own personal priorities and on only ‘I’ and ‘Me’.

The religious practices of the Jews were devoid of that spirit and mainly contained the useless
customs and traditions the society had developed over time, rather than the real
commandments of Allaah concerning the day-to-day affairs of life. Most good works were
usually done to impress the common people. Hence, Jesus told the Jews to give due importance
to the commandments of God instead of the traditions of the society and to clean their hearts of
40
the evil desires and motives instead of nit-picking in the ritual practices. He emphasized
charity, selflessness, sacrifice, prayers and fasting. He inculcated in the minds of his followers
that the intention must be only for the pleasure of Allaah and absolutely free of showing off
41
one’s piety to the general public. He taught them to prefer the hereafter over this world and
advised them for pure and complete servitude of Allaah, saying “No one can serve two
42
masters…You cannot serve both God and Money.”

Because of his criticism of empty rituals, people could have misunderstood that Jesus did not
give importance to fulfilling the law. To avoid that misunderstanding and to underscore the
importance of obeying the valid commandments of Allaah, he repeatedly emphasized that his
objective was to establish the supremacy of the law of Torah.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish
them but to fulfill them. … Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and
teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that

37
Luke 10:27
38
Matthew 22:37 and Luke 10:27 Also Duet 6:4-5 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord. Love
the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
39
Matthew 22:39 Luke 10:27, 30-37 And Levi 19:18 Love your neighbour as yourself.
40
Mark 7:5-23
41
Matt Ch 6.
42
Matt. 6:25
unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will
43
certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

When a rich young man asked him about what to do for eternal life, Jesus answered, “Obey the
44
commandments” and after that is done, “distribute your wealth to the poor and follow me.”

Only a handful of people listened to him and followed him. To those who followed him, he
ensured that they understood, “Allaah is your Lord and my Lord, so serve only Him like
slaves”;45 so that, impressed by his miracles, they would not start exaggerating his status.
Although he had only a few followers, he declared his intention of establishing the ‘Kingdom
of God’ (the Islamic state under his leadership).

Jewish rulers, temple authorities and the Jewish elite opposed him bitterly, although the
common people had started listening to him. The religious authorities would pose tricky
questions in public forums hoping that he would lose his influence and credibility. But ‘Eesa
always responded to them so intelligently that they would be dumbfounded. He explained to
them that he was the Christ (messiah) promised in the Towraah whom they had been waiting
for, but the establishment did not want to listen.
52
When ‘Eesa sensed disbelief on their part, he invited them saying, “Who will
be my helpers in working for Allaah?” The Ĥawwaariyyoon said: “We are
Allaah's helpers. We believe in Allaah and be witness that we are Muslims
(submitting fully to Allaah). 53 Our Lord! We believe in what You have sent
down and we follow the Messenger, so enrol us among the witnesses.

He made an open call to people to help him establish the Deen of Allaah and the kingdom of
God. The followers of Yahyaa came forward enthusiastically to help. Hence, they were called
the ‘Helpers’ or ‘Nazareans’46 (Nasaaraa in Arabic). The Noble Qur-an refers to them as
Hawwaariyyoon for the white garments they used to wear.

Those who dedicate themselves to the establish the Islamic system of life in the society are so
valued by Allaah SWT that He regards them as His helpers because it is He Who wants people
to have a just and peaceful society made possible by the Islamic system of life.

At first, ‘Eesa tried to bring the revolution through popular movement and social uprising. He
entered Jerusalem successfully with throngs of his followers and helpers hailing him as the
king of Israel47. Although he was able to throw the money-changers out of the temple and do

43
Matthew 5:17-20
44
Math 19:17,21 Moreover, Even in his last days he exhorted his disciples, “If you love me,
keep my commandments”. AV John 14:15 “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is
the one who loves me… If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.” John 14:21,23.
45
Matthew 4:10 “For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.” Also Deut. 6:16
46
It should not be confused with Nazareth which did not exist in biblical times. The Holy Blood and the
Holy Grail pages 363-364
47
Matthew 21:1-13 Mark 11:9-10 Luke 19:38 John 12:13
some of its clean up, he could not take charge of the temple.48 His disciples and followers
thought that it was going to happen right there, “… he was near Jerusalem and the people
thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once”49, but unfortunately, it did not
work out.

He continued exhorting his followers to work for the establishment of the Islamic state, “…
seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.”50 He started talking about and
preparing for war to fulfill his goals and asked his disciples51 and helpers to arm themselves
even if they had to buy swords by selling their clothes.52

On the other hand, instead of accepting the Christ they had been waiting for, despite seeing
clear signs of him being from Allaah, the temple authorities and religious leaders of the Jews
had become so hardhearted and vicious that they started conspiring against ‘Eesa with Roman
authorities. They and the Romans saw the danger of losing their power and influence and saw
the kingdom of God coming. They colluded and decided to kill ‘Eesa to stop the revolution
from happening53.

54
Then, the disbelievers schemed, so Allaah planned to foil them, and Allaah
is the best of planners. 55 So Allaah said: “O ‘Eesa! I am going to take you
back completely, lift you up towards me, clear you of those who have
disbelieved, and make those who follow you above those who disbelieve until
the day of resurrection. Then to Me shall be your return, and I will settle
between you the matters wherein you have been disputing. 56 Then as to those
who have disbelieved, I will punish them with severe punishment in this world
and the hereafter, and they will have no helpers. 57 While those who have
believed and done good deeds, He will pay them their rewards fully; and
Allaah does not like the unjust.

Before ‘Eesa and his helpers were ready for a war, his camp was raided at night by Jewish
Guards, temple authorities and the Roman Cohort -- a unit containing 600 soldiers54. They
were led to his camp by one of his disciples who had decided to betray the master. The
objective of the invasion was to capture ‘Eesa before he was able to consolidate and organize
his forces, to try him for treason and have him hanged. That was their plan, but Allaah was
going to foil their plans.

48
Matthew 21:12 Mark 11:15-16 Luke 19:45 John 2:15
49
Luke 19:11
50
Luke 12:31.
51
Matthew 10:34
52
Luke 22:35-36
53
The Messianic Legacy page 73
54
ibid page 77
The raid took place when ‘Eesa AS was spending his night in worship and supplications to
Allaah SWT at the Garden of Gethsemane.55 Allaah SWT responded to his prayers and gave
‘Eesa the good news of His help and support so that:

He will be taken back completely and lifted up as a living human being to Allaah
SWT without being captured or killed by the raiding army.

He will be cleared of those who have disbelieved in him.

His followers will be above those who disbelieved in him until the day of
resurrection.

On the Day of Judgement, the disbelievers will be punished severely while the true
believers in him will be rewarded.

Let us look at each part of the good news in detail.

Although the message about his being lifted up as a living human being seems to be clear,
some people are confused by the use of the word “mutawaffeeka” – “take you back wholly and
completely” in the Qur-aanic text. This word means to take something completely. When a
person dies, angels take his soul completely. For that reason, a derivative from the same root
word is used metaphorically for the death of a person. Because of this use of the word, people
think that here also it is used for the death of Jesus. But this metaphoric meaning does not fit
the context properly while the real meaning of the word does. Allaah SWT is talking about
foiling their plan and also mentions his being lifted up. In that context, mutawaffeeka cannot
imply its borrowed meaning to indicate death. Hence, the real meaning of the word should be
used instead of the metaphoric.

This becomes clearer when reflected upon along with the following verses of the Soorah An-
Nisaa wherein Allaah SWT has stated categorically that ‘Eesa (Jesus) was neither killed nor
hanged:

“They did not kill him nor did they crucify him, they just got confused. The
people who have differing opinions on this issue are all mixed up about its
reality. Their opinions are not based on knowledge but on assumptions. They
definitely did not kill him, but Allaah raised him up and Allaah is All-Mighty,
All-Wise.” An-Nisaa 4:157-158

After denying ‘Eesa’s crucifixion or death, it again mentions his being raised or lifted up.
Thus, a simple, straightforward and apparent meaning is that physically he was lifted up and
taken to heaven. However, some people who cannot fathom a live person being raised to
heaven and thus interpret it to mean that Jesus was raised (elevated) in status. This act of
‘raising’ cannot mean raising of a status because neither is it expressly stated nor does the
context allow that meaning. While declaring that the adversaries did not succeed in crucifying
or killing Jesus, “but” cannot be followed by a mention of Jesus being raised in status. It can
only relate to his physical existence.

Some people keep insisting on interpreting ‘lifted up” to mean a natural death. They ignore the
fact that being lifted up or raised has never been used in the Qur-aan or in Arabic to imply

55
John 19:41, Matthew 27:60
death. This meaning is usually assumed by non-Arab Muslims because of the contemporary
usage of the word “raised” to mean death. Because of the Muslims’ understanding that the soul
of the dying person is raised to heaven, in some languages people have started figuratively
using ‘raised’ to mean ‘died’. Based on that usage, which was developed long after the
revelation of the Qur-aan, only in oriental languages, some people think perhaps the Noble
Qur-aan has also used ‘raised’ for his being dead. This is far from the truth. It cannot mean
‘raised to heaven in spirit’ as is used in some societies for every dying person, regardless of
how he died. This meaning, too, does not fit the context and rather makes it absurd because the
statement becomes, “they did not kill him, but his soul was taken up”, which does not make
any sense. Also, there is no example of such use of the word ‘raised’ either in any other place
in the Noble Qur-aan or in the Arabic usage of the Prophet’s time.

In addition, none of these meanings (raising of his status or his natural death) can be justified
in the context of the verse because immediately after saying “but Allaah lifted him up or raised
him”, the Qur-aan refers to Allaah’s omnipotence and His wisdom indicating that it was an
extraordinary incident involving Allaah’s power and authority, not an ordinary human death or
raising of someone in status. Thus, ‘raised’ in this verse means raised physically.

Although people thought that ‘Eesa AS was killed, in reality he was not. People were just
confused and mixed up on this matter. Although the Christians also believe that he was killed
on the cross and was then resurrected and taken to heaven, even they have no knowledge of the
facts about Jesus. Their whole story about his passion and his crucifixion is based on hearsay
and conjecture, not on facts or knowledge. If we look at Christian sources, we find that there
are so many versions, narrations and contradictory reports that it is impossible to say exactly
what transpired. No eyewitness accounts are available. Some people believe that the four
Gospels are eyewitness accounts, but nothing can be farther from truth. None of the four
Gospel writers was a disciple of Jesus and none of the disciples personally witnessed the
crucifixion in any way because, fearful of Roman authorities, they had escaped and gone into
hiding. As all four of the accounts are based on hearsay, they are very inconsistent and self-
contradictory. That is why the Qur-aan says that they have no knowledge but are following
only conjecture.

The question is if people at that time were confused and mixed up and the subsequent
generations of Christians are just following some wishful thoughts, not reality, then what really
did happen? The Qur-aan categorically says that he was neither killed nor crucified but Allaah
raised him or lifted him up towards Himself. So what does “Allaah raised him or lifted him up
towards Himself” mean? Obviously, it cannot mean ascension after resurrection because
Allaah SWT is categorically denying his death before being raised.

Some people think that Jesus was hanged but was taken down before his death. Some others go
further and claim that, afterwards, he lived a normal life, got married and had children. About
his subsequent life, some people theorize that he left for India to chase some lost sheep of
Israel. There he died in Kashmir and is buried in Sarinagar. Some Japanese think that he
migrated to Japan and lived and died there.

The Noble Qur-aan does not support these theories. Had Jesus been on the cross, survived
crucifixion and died a natural death, the Noble Qur-aan would have mentioned it as such.
Instead of a report of that kind, Allaah has very clearly said that Jesus was not even crucified.
He was raised to heaven without being put on the cross. The most important point about the
discussions on topics such as these is to remember that the Qur-aan always states a point
clearly instead of using a confusing style. If Jesus had died naturally subsequent to being saved
from death on the cross, the Qur-aan would tell it clearly without mincing words. It would not
use the words that give more indication of being raised alive than of dying, especially when
there were already a big population of Christians believing in Jesus being raised after
resurrection. If the purpose was to contradict the notion of Jesus being raised in any unusual
form, it was much easier for the Qur-aan to say: Jesus did not die on the cross but died of
natural causes in such and such circumstances, at so and so place. Instead of a report of that
kind, Allaah has very clearly said that Jesus was not even crucified and has used such language
that indicates some special, unusual incident of being raised to heaven without being put on the
cross.

The above mentioned points about the verses 157-158 of Soorah Nisaa were included here to
present a complete discussion on the topic. Now coming back to the verse under discussion,
the reader should note how Allaah SWT has used both ‘taking back completely’ and ‘lifting
up’ together so that there is no room left for any reasonable person to be confused about the
nature of the ascension. Merely using mutawaffeeka could have been misconstrued for death
and merely using lifting up could have been construed lifting up spiritually, or only in spirit
after death, as some people try to infer. Both expressions taken together clearly indicate that he
was lifted up physically both in body and spirit as a living human being, without being killed
by his enemies. His being taken away from the rotten society that tried to kill him despite
knowing him to be a very special messenger of Allaah was also how he was cleared from those
who disbelieved in him. That fulfilled the first and second parts of the good news given to him.

A reader may wonder, how did he evade arrest, how did someone else get arrested in his place
and how was he lifted up? Allaah has not described the way He caused the confusion and
saved His messenger by raising him to the heavens. One may ask why the detail was not given.
It is beyond our knowledge, experience or imagination. Thus, being beyond our understanding,
it is a matter of Mutashaabihaat, which should not be pursued as discussed at the beginning of
this Soorah.

One should also remember that Allaah SWT does not provide any details about
Mutashaabihaat for many reasons. First of all, Allaah being the Master rightfully expects of
His servants to have full trust in Him and accept the facts as they are revealed by Him. As a
matter of principle, He never explains how He does things. He just tells us that He commands
the things to happen and they do happen. Secondly, even if Allaah had chosen to explain His
actions for our understanding, people would have been unable to understand most of the things
most of the time because His ways and means are infinite, always beyond human imagination
and mostly beyond our finite understanding. Finally, even if Allaah would have given the
details of what actually transpired, it would not have any value whatsoever because people
would have no way of verifying the truth of the statements. The confusions and doubts would
remain as they are. Any further information would have been useless in clarifying the issue
and, hence, unproductive. So the statement that the Jews were not able to crucify Jesus and that
Allaah raised him is sufficient and enough for the believers to know for all intents and
purposes. For reasons such as these, Allaah has not described the way He caused the confusion
and saved His messenger to raise him to the heavens.
As far as non-Muslims are concerned, their need from the Qur-aan is information that will
open their eyes to the truth that the Qur-aan is the Word of Allaah and the ultimate guidance
for mankind. The details of Jesus’ last days on the earth would not have provided any value
from that point of view for the same reasons as mentioned before: firstly, Allaah’s ways are
often beyond human understanding; and secondly, people would have no means of establishing
their accuracy. For the purposes of providing signs of its truth, the Qur-aan is a living miracle
that keeps revealing its miraculous nature as our scientific knowledge and understanding
progresses.

However, for the non-Muslim’s curiosity, the following information from Biblical sources
presents one plausible scenario:

Jesus had appeared on the public scene for a very short period of time. Although he
had confrontations with Jewish leadership and Rabbis and his name and claims
quickly became famous, the general public did not have much of a chance to see him
and recognize him physically. Even Romans did not know what he looked like.

None of the disciples were around Jesus when the supposed event of crucifixion
happened. When Romans attacked, they all fled: “They all forsook him, and fled.”56

The crucifixion was not a public event. Although it is reported to be held on a barren,
skull-shaped hill called Golgotha, the other Gospel accounts contradict this
information and indicate that crucifixion took place in a garden right next to which
was a spacious sepulchre hewn in rocks owned by Joseph of Arimathea. The facts
indicate that it was the Garden of Gethsemane57.

In other words, it took place on a private property, not at a public place. It occurred in
late afternoon on Friday and there were only some women who watched from far
off.58

The person on the cross cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”59
Such a complaint and cry has to be from someone else not Jesus, a messenger of
Allaah, especially if he was previously told that he will eventually be saved or
resurrected.

The spectators looking from a distance saw or perhaps were told of a body pierced in
the side with a spear causing water and blood to gush forth.60 So the belly and guts of
the hanged person were slit.

From a distance, people really could not see what was going on except that they saw
three people crucified and, a few hours later in the dark61, they saw a body being
handed over to Joseph of Arimathea, who himself was waiting for the Kingdom of
God, (i.e. a secret disciple and helper of Jesus for establishment of the Islamic state).62

56
Mark 14:50
57
John 19:41, Matthew 27:60, The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail pages 374-377
58
Matthew 27:55 Luke 23:49 Mark 15:40
59
Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34
60
John 19:34
61
Matthew 27:45 “Darkness came over the whole land.” Luke 23:44 Mark 15:33
62
Mark 15:43-46

The body was stored in the vast room carved in the rocks63 from where it disappeared
sometime on Saturday.64

After the entire episode, people found the dead body of Judas, the traitor, lying in his
field with signs of being hanged65 and with his guts open.66

The disciples neither had any knowledge of, nor were they expecting any possibility
of Jesus being raised from the dead.67

After this incident, Jesus was seen alive and well. Believing that he had been
crucified, his disciples were flabbergasted to see him. He was physically present and
had no wound in his belly. He showed them his flesh and bones and asked them to
touch and feel so that they did not think that he was a spirit and that they were
convinced that he was present in person. To show them that he was not ‘raised’ and to
satisfy his hunger, he ate fish and honeycomb with them just as any normal living
human being does.

“He said to them, ‘why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look
at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost (spirit) does not
have flesh and bones, as you see I have. When he had said this, he showed them his
hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement,
he asked them, ‘Do you have anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled
fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.”68.

As one can see, Jesus and his disciples had escaped the arrest. From the above listed
information, we can surmise that in confusion and darkness of night and Roman soldiers not
being familiar with Jesus, Judas the traitor was arrested. It was he who was crucified and it is
he whose belly was pierced with the spear, not Jesus. Joseph of Arimathea, who had taken the
body of Judas, quietly threw it out in Judas’ field without divulging the fact that Jesus had
escaped. That is why Mary Magdalene and other women, without knowing the reality, went
looking for Jesus’ body early Sunday morning, after Sabbath was over, but found the burial
chamber empty69. And that is why when Judas’ body was found in the field, its guts were open.
Had it been true that his guts were open because he fell headlong, that would have cut open his
head not his guts70. Also, that is why, despite the rumours, Jesus was seen alive in his own
physical body, he was hungry and ate food as normal human beings do. He was not
resurrected, otherwise he would not have a physical body nor would he need food. And as the
Qur-aan mentioned, he was subsequently raised to heaven.

63
The dimensions of the sepulchre were: 5’ W x 15’ deep x 7’ high as given by Jim Bishop in his book
“The Day Christ Died”.
64
“Early Sunday morning when it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the
stone has been taken away from the entrance… ‘ They have taken the lord from the tomb’…” John 20:1-2
65
Matt 27:5 “Then …went and hanged himself.”
66
“and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.” Acts 1:18
67
“They still did not understand the scripture which said that he must rise from death.” John 20:10
“They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.” Luke 24:37
68
Luke 24:38-43, some versions mentions honeycomb as well.
69
Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:1-2, Luke 24:1, John 20:1
70
“and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.” Acts 1:18
Again, it should be emphasized that this is just a logical inference from the reports contained in
the Gospels. The only fact we know from the Qur-aan is that Jesus was neither crucified nor
killed, but lifted up.

What about the sign of Jonah? It is claimed that Jesus had predicted and informed people
around him that he would die, live in the belly of earth for three days and three nights and then
be raised again similar to how Jonah stayed in and came out of belly of the fish:

"An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be
given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: for as Jonas was three days and three
nights in the whale's belly; so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in
the heart of the earth." 71

This claim is strongly contradicted by other accounts in the gospels:

1. None of the disciples of Jesus were expecting his resurrection after three days. That is
why they would not believe72 when told about his being seen and that is why they
were scared when they saw him, thinking he must be a ghost. Had this prediction been
known to them, they would believe the news immediately and welcome him on seeing
him.

2. If Jesus was actually the person who was crucified and he knew that he was destined
to die and be resurrected after three days, why did he cry and shout on the cross, "My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" From comments like this, it appears he
did not have any idea of a resurrection in his mind. He felt alone and abandoned.

3. For a sign to apply, there should be strong and glaring similarities between the sign
and the incident to which it is applied. It does not appear to be the case here. For
example:

a. Jonah was alive when he was thrown in the water; he remained alive in the
belly of the fish73; and, he was alive when he was vomited out on the shore.
On the other hand, Jesus is believed to have died; he was laid to rest as a
dead person; and, then he is believed to have been resurrected. Jesus did not
remain alive like Jonah. Or, Jonah did not die or get resurrected like Jesus.
b. Jonah stayed a full three days and three nights in the belly of the fish74. Jesus
was taken into the tomb on Friday night and on Sunday morning75 his body
was nowhere to be found. Count as you may, if we assume that it was he
who was crucified, his stay in the belly of earth was only two nights and one
day – a far cry from three days and three nights.

71
Matthew 12:38-40
72
Mark 16:11-13, Luke 24:11
73
Jonah 2:110
74
Jonah 1:15, 17
75
Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:1-2, Luke 24:1, John 20:1
 c. Jonah went back to his people who accepted him and believed in him; not
Jesus.
d. An example of minor nature is that in order to be considered similar the
'heart of the earth' should be a grave or a small cave as constraining as the
stomach of a whale. While in the case of Jesus it was a spacious chamber
measuring 5' x 15' with 7' height according to Jim Bishop in The Day Christ
Died.

However, this sign of Jonah becomes quite relevant if looked at from another perspective. The
Qur-aan mentions that one of the functions of prophet ‘Eesa was to give people good news of
the coming of the Prophet Muhammad Sall-Allaahu 'Alayhi Wa Sallam. If we see the sign of
Jonah from that perspective, it makes much sense.

The sign of Jonah was also mentioned by Jesus in response to the Jewish demand for a sign.
Hence, Prophet ‘Eesa had said, “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and
there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: for as Jonas was three days
and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in
the heart of the earth.” That sign was finally given to them when Prophet Muhammad migrated
from Makkah to Madeenah. When Makkans figured out that Muhammad (Sall-Allaahu 'Alayhi
Wa Sallam) would migrate to Madeenah to continue his mission, they decided to kill him. His
house was surrounded for that purpose. But he succeeded to get out miraculously just as Jonah
was able to survive in the storm miraculously. He hid in a small cave for three day and three
nights before resuming his journey towards Madeenah. Despite a frantic search by Makkans on
the same mount where he was hiding, he escaped detection as a miracle just as Jonah escaped
death in the belly of the fish. After those long three days and nights in the belly of the earth, he
was able to travel to the people of Madeenah who believed in him and was subsequently able
to conquer Makkans who also believed in him, just as people of Nineveh believed in Jonah
after the fish episode.

Coming back to the matter of Jesus being raised alive, a reader may wonder, if Jesus did not
die like a normal human being, is he an exception to the rule that every human being must die?
Not at all! He will come back to this world and live his remaining life and die as all human
beings do. Thus he would fulfil that remaining items that Maryam was told about him; i.e., that
he will talk to people in his old age.

So why will Jesus come back? What will be his role? What is Allaah’s objective of bringing
him back in such an extraordinary way?

To find the answer to these questions, we need to look at the condition of Muslims in the light
of the condition of Jews for which Jesus came for the first time.

Muslim masses nowadays are exactly the same in their behaviour as were Jews at the time
when Jesus was sent to them: Muslims have failed to maintain the ideal Islamic society that
was very successfully and completely established by the Prophet Muhammad and his
companions. Instead of expanding it all over the world and establishing the Islamic World
Order, we have even lost what we used to have. We have, in fact lost the dream and vision of
that society altogether. This responsibility is so completely abandoned and forgotten that it is
not even mentioned in our discussions or Khutbahs. For most of the Muslims, Islam is not even
a high priority or an important thing in life. The overwhelming majority think of it as a set of
rituals which one mechanically performs when one has time or when one wants something
from Allaah or is in trouble. Some go to other extreme and disregard all acts of worship
thinking being ‘nice’ is enough to be a Muslim. We take from Islam only what suits our
worldly needs, not the complete package. The few noble souls who try to remind us of this
responsibility and start an Islamic movement are abused, accused and name-called by the
masses; persecuted, imprisoned and killed by the governments; and, hated and ridiculed by the
non-Muslims. The pleasures of this life are our sole priority. We have become so fragmented
and divided that every attempt to unite us creates even more groups and divisions. If we forget
about the masses, even the people who feel the need to change and establish Islam as a way of
life are bitterly divided and at each other’s throat. In the absence of any prophet, we do not
want to listen to another person like us. We have too many scholars with too many opinions
where none of them wants to back down or listen to another. We overlook our own
shortcomings but expect perfection from whoever stands up for the establishment of Deen. We
are so cruel to him that even small human errors on his part are blown out of proportion and
the poor soul is verbally abused and slandered viciously.

Those who have tried to create even a semblance of unity have failed miserably. Many people,
myself included, have made a number of attempts but found huge, fortified walls of egos,
sects, races and nationalities, blocking the way completely.

In short, the condition of Muslims is such that there is no Muslim, even the most pious and the
greatest scholar on the earth, who can have the universal influence to correct all Muslims’
religious approach, gain universal acceptance to be able to lead them as one Ummah, and be
able to unite them for establishing one global Islamic state. This is an Ummah that cannot even
agree on celebrating Eed on one day, what else can be expected from them.

In these circumstances, how can one ever expect Muslims to return to the revolutionary Islam
of the Prophet, becoming united and establishing the ideal Islamic state? That is where Jesus’
role comes in. His arrival will be so clear, like his birth, that every believing Muslim will have
no doubt in recognizing him. No one will have any more excuse not to accept his leadership.
Everyone will rally around him and suddenly all of the more than a billion Muslims will be
united. Although Muslims are following the footsteps of Jews in everything else, this is one
matter they will prove to be better than Jews. Christians will recognize their folly, break the
cross, kill the swine they are breeding for food now and join the Muslims in faith.

Like the first part of his life, he will not bring any new law or book. He will come as the
follower of the Prophet Muhammad establishing Qur-aan and Islam completely in this world.
The final guidance brought by Muhammad will remain the final guidance to be fully re-
implemented. The majority of the global population becoming Muslim after his arrival, Islam
will become the world order. Sensible, good-hearted Jews will also see the truth and become
Muslims. There will be peace and tranquility of Islam everywhere.

To some, it may sound like wishful thinking, but those who analyze the events of the world
carefully can see that events leading to such a society are unfolding at a faster pace. The
picture is rapidly becoming clearer. Fifty years ago, it seemed far-fetched. Now, it seems very
likely. Every Muslim country has an Islamic movement working hard, despite highly
unfavourable circumstances, towards the establishment of an Islamic state. These movements
are preparing the workers who will be the lead followers working with Jesus to establish the
Islamic State. One of these places, Inshaa Allaah, is going to succeed to bring the first change
and establish it. That will become the springboard for accelerating the Islamic work. The leader
of that area will be the one who could be called ‘Mahdi’ for being rightly guided to establish
Islam in its true form. It is with this Mahdi that Jesus will work. That is on the Muslims’ side.
Every expansion by Israel and every cruelty and persecution by its forces is setting the stage
from the other side.

So while waiting for Jesus to appear, we must become part of an Islamic movement working
towards establishment of the Islamic state. If one dies before Jesus arrives, you have secured
your salvation by performing the most important duty a Muslim needs to perform, by doing the
work of the prophets and by working for the very purpose for which Islam and prophets were
sent. If you are still alive when he comes, you will have the honour of being among his helpers.

Where is the evidence of Jesus’ return? The evidence of this is in Ahaadeeth. Although many
Ahaadeeth have been reported regarding this topic, Syed Maudoodi has referred to the most
authentic 21 Ahaadeeth that have been reported by 14 well recognized companions of the
Prophet76. In other words, they are from different companions through different chains of
narrators, without inconsistency of the theme. This multiplicity of the sources and unity of the
message indicates that the Prophet most definitely mentioned it to people.

Why has it not been mentioned in the Qur-aan? The Qur-aan is a book of guidance about the
universal matters of faith and a book of instruction about the behaviour people should adopt.
The return of Jesus to live his remaining life and help Muslims in establishing Islam is neither
a matter of faith nor a matter of behaviour. That is why it has been left out of the Qur-aan. Had
it been mentioned in the Qur-aan, it would have become a matter of faith whose denial will
cause apostasy. It is a matter that pertains only to the generation who will witness his return.
For their guidance, mention by the Prophet is enough.

Some people ask that if Jesus has been raised to Heaven and will come down again, does that
make Jesus higher in status than Muhammad Sall-Allaahu 'Alayhi Wa Sallam? Not at all!
Prophet Muhammad was also taken alive to the world beyond our imagination to be shown
some extraordinary phenomena and was then brought back77. In addition, Jesus acknowledged
the greatness of Muhammad and foretold about his coming. On his coming back to live his
remaining life, he will be the follower of Muhammad. Does this negate the finality of
prophethood of Muhammad? It does not. Jesus is not a new messenger, nor is he coming back
as a new one, he is coming back as a follower of the last Messenger of Allaah.

The third part of the good news given to ‘Eesa AS was that those who acknowledge him will
have the upper hand over those who reject him until the Day of Judgement. In this case the
rejecters are the Jews while those who acknowledge him in one way or the other include
Christians and Muslims. History has witnessed that soon after the departure of ‘Eesa, the Jews
were completely conquered and dispersed by Romans. Since then, they have survived only
under the protection of Muslims and recently under the protection of Christians. This was a

76
Tafheemul Qur-aan volume IV, appendix to the tafseer of Soorah Al-Aĥzaab.
77
An-Najm 1-8
fitting punishment of Allaah for their rejection of ‘Eesa. They had been foretold that they
should follow ‘Eesa and Muĥammad and if they did so, they would become the most powerful
leaders of the world and continue to be the chosen people. Their rejection of those messengers
of Allaah deprived them of that status.

The last part of the good news given to ‘Eesa was about the hereafter. In this case the success
is promised only for those who believe and do good deeds and do not associate any partners
with Allaah. Associating partners with Allaah is the greatest injustice and evil that a person can
commit and Allaah SWT does not like those who commit this injustice and evil. Thus,
accordingly, only the original true followers of ‘Eesa who did not make him a god other than
Allaah and the Muslims will be the beneficiaries of this part of the good news.

58
This We recite to you of the signs and the wise reminder. 59 Verily, to
Allaah, Jesus’ case is similar to Adam’s whom He created from earthly matter
and commanded him to be, and he came into being. 60 This is the truth from
your Lord, so be not of the doubters.

As mentioned in the beginning of the discourse about ‘Eesa AS, it was revealed to present the
truth about Jesus to the Christians. In summary the following three points have been made:

Christians consider Jesus to be god because of his conception without a father,

because of his astounding miracles and because of his being raised. The Qur-aan had
presented the truth about all these three points indicating Allaah’s plan concerning the
Jews and how He used Jesus for those plans. It clarifies how in all three matters, it
was nothing that Jesus could do on His own. It was only Allaah Who was making all
these things happen. Jesus was just a human being like all other messengers.

The mission and message of Jesus was exactly the same as that of every other
messenger and that of Prophet Muĥammad.

The followers of Jesus were also Muslims like the followers of the Prophet and they
stood up for establishing Islam as the complete system of life just as the companions
of Muĥammad have stood up to do. That is why they were called helpers.

After making these points, Allaah SWT is kindly addressing the Prophet, and through him to
mankind, that what the Qur-aan says on this topic is based on facts and the absolute knowledge
of Allaah SWT while whatever Christians propagate is purely on the basis of speculations,
hearsay and fabricated mythology. Hence, people should pay attention to the facts instead of
forming opinions on the basis of doubtful speculations.

Some people think that the idea of Jesus being son of god and second god of the Trinity comes
from the existing Gospel. But when we refer to the New Testament from this perspective, we
see very clear evidence that Jesus was a normal human being and had all the qualities as well
as weaknesses a human being has. His life began with birth as a human being. He grew up as
human being does. He was subject to all the natural human needs including hunger and thirst78.
As he grew up, his knowledge and understanding grew as it does for any other human being79.
He suffered from the same temptations as every one else does including temptations from
Satan80. He worshipped God and prayed to Him81. He made mistakes. He was ignorant of
many things82. He was scared of his enemies83. He felt weak, sorrowful and desolate84. And so
on and so forth. On the other hand, we do not find any divine attribute in him whatsoever.

One reason Jesus is considered divine by the Christians is his miraculous birth. Obviously,
Jesus’ birth without a father cannot be more miraculous than creation of Adam who had neither
a father nor a mother’ i.e. he was brought into being from nowhere. Thus, that is not a sensible
reason for believing in Jesus’ divinity. Otherwise, Adam should be accepted as the first-born.
The fact is that the literal sonship of Adam is absolutely as untrue as that of Jesus. Nothing
makes Allaah SWT more angry than ascribing to Him a son or a daughter of any kind85. The
fact is that both Adam and Jesus were created by Allaah’s command and both are alike in that
respect. As for miraculous birth, many others were also born miraculously defying laws of
nature. For example, Isaac was born to a barren mother at an age when even fertile mothers
cannot become pregnant and when fathers themselves become sterile86.

In addition to his miraculous birth, people consider him divine because of the miracles shown
by him. They forget the fact that all prophets and messengers are helped with miracles by
Allaah. Jesus is not unique in this respect at all. Even Prophet Elisha is documented in the

78
"The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a
friend of publicans and sinners." (Matthew, 11:9; Luke, 7:34)
79
"And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." (Luke, 2:52); "Learned
he obedience by the things which he suffered." (Hebrews, 5:8)
80
"And immediately the spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness forty
days, tempted of Satan." (Mark, 1:12-13); "And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed
from him for a season." (Luke, 4:13); "But (he) was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."
(Hebrews, 4:15)
81
"And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place,
and there prayed." (Mark, 1:35)
82
"And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he (Jesus) was hungry: and seeing a fig tree
afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find anything thereon: and when he came to it, he
found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet." (Mark, 11:12-13)
83
"After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to
kill him." (John, 7:1); "Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death. Jesus
therefore walked no more openly among the Jews." (John, 11:53-54)
84
"And (he) began to be sorrowful and very heavy." (Matthew 26:37)
"Then saith he unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." (Matthew, 26:38); "And (he)
began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy." (Mark, 14:33); "And there appeared an angel unto him
from heaven, strengthening him." (Luke, 22:43)
85
And they say that the Most Gracious (Allaah) has begotten a son. Indeed you have come up with a
terrible thing. Whereby the heavens are almost torn, and the earth is split asunder, and mountains fall in
ruins - that they ascribe a son to the Most Gracious. (The Qur-aan 19:88-91)
86
Gen. 10:30; 18:9-15; 21:5.
Bible to have shown miracles similar to Jesus.87 In fact, he was even more astounding than
Jesus because, according to the Bible, a person came back to life just with a touch of Elisha’s
decaying bones. Similarly, a staff of dried wood became a living serpent for Moses, in addition
to all of his other miracles. They also ignore the fact that Jesus himself had never claimed to be
anything more than a messenger who showed the miracles as a testimony to his truthfulness
only by the commands of Allaah SWT. Jesus is quoted saying,

“I can of mine own self do nothing;…I seek not my own will but the will of the
Father which hath sent me”88 (KJV)
By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek
not to please myself but him who sent me. (NIV)

Jesus also said, “the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me” and “Many
good works I have shown you from my Father.” Or “The miracles I do in my Father's name
speak for me, …“I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these
do you stone me?”89

More telling in respect of miracles is the story of Lazarus. Jesus prayed to Allaah to bring him
back to life and he poured his heart out in praying to him that sounded like “groaning” to those
who were around. Then he said:
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that
you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of
the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” (John 11:41-42)

Some people assume that the words saviour and messiah indicate divinity, but that idea is not
supported in the Bible. In fact, the Bible uses these words for other human beings as well.
Messiah or Christ both mean “anointed”. There have been many anointed personalities in the
90
Bible , and the word is usually translated as that when used for other people, but when the
same word is used for Jesus, they transliterate it to give a false impression as if Jesus was the
91
only Messiah or Christ. Even Cyrus was called a messiah (anointed). The same is true for the
92
words saviour and saviours as they have also been used for other human beings.

87
2Kings chapters 4, 5 and 6 as well as 13:21.
88
John 5:30 (AV) Also, “but if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is
come to you.” Luke 11:20 Also see, Matt 12:28
89
John 10:25 and 32 (AV) and (NIV)
90
Most of the kings and prophets of Jews were anointed. About 80 such references are available in the
Old Testament.
91
Isaiah 45:1
92
KJV 2 Kings 13:5 (And the LORD gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the hand of
the Syrians: and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents, as beforetime. Also, Nehemiah, 9: 27Therefore
thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble,
when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou
gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies. Also: Obadiah verse 21And
saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD's.
The major reason presented for ascribing divinity to Jesus is the use of the word ‘son of God’
for him. The terms “son of God” and “Father” were figuratively used in the Bible to describe a
close loving/authoritative as well as created/Creator relationship between human beings and
Allaah SWT. This was evident in use of the term ‘son of God’ for other people both in the Old
and New Testaments. For example, the created/Creator relationship is clearly indicated when
Adam is called ‘son of God’, “Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God” in Luke 3:38.

Some other examples of sons of God are:

“That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took
them wives of all which they chose.

There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God
came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became
mighty men which were of old, men of renown.” Genesis 6:2, 4

“…Israel is my son, even my first born.” (Exodus 4:22 (KJV)

“Because I am Israel's father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son.” (Jeremiah 31:9)

“The LORD hath said unto me (David), Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten
thee.” (Psalms 2:7)

David was told about his son by God through Nathan, “He shall build me an house,
and I will establish his throne for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son.” (1
Chronicles 17:12-13 and 2 Samuel 7:14)

“To them he gave power to become the sons of God” (John 1:12)

“Jesus has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchisedec. For this
Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, … the first being by
interpretation ‘King of righteousness’, and after that also ‘King of Salem’, which is,
‘King of peace’; without father, without mother, without descent, having neither
beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; he remains a
priest forever.” (Hebrews 6:20-7:3)

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” (Romans
8:14)

About the people resurrected on the Day of Judgment, Jesus said, “They are God’s
children.” (Luke 20:36 (RSV: Sons of God).)

The text of New Testament itself clearly determines the meaning of the term when the same
quotation is reported differently by two authors: Matthew 27:54 and Mark 15:39 report that

We have quoted these examples from KJV, because to give the false impression that this term is used
only for God or Jesus, the modern translators have translated the same word differently when used in the
examples we have quoted.
“Centurion exclaimed, ‘Truly he was a son of God.’, while Luke 23:47 reports “Certainly this
was a righteous man.” or “innocent” in RSV. It becomes even clearer, when Jesus himself
93
labels the peacemakers as “sons of God”.

Some people try to imply that the use of this term for Jesus was special. For that they quote
Jesus’ use of “Abba”, Aramaic word for Father. But there is nothing special about this word
either, as his followers use the same term while calling upon God as per Romans 8:15 and
Galatians 4:6.

The concept of a love/authority relationship continues even afterwards when Christians repeat
the Lord’s prayer and when all priests and Pope are called fathers. Jesus is reported to be using
the word Father for Allaah SWT in the same sense as Roman Catholics call the Pope their
Father. Obviously, no Catholic believes himself/herself to be really fathered by the Pope.

Unfortunately, over time Christians started taking the figurative words literally and created the
myth about the divinity of Jesus. The myth of Jesus being the begotten son of God was wholly
and solely based on the word “begotten” used in John’s Gospel. First of all, John himself is an
unknown character who had never seen or heard Jesus himself. Secondly, the word “begotten”
was a later addition by someone bent upon proving Jesus’ divinity. The modern scholars of the
Bible are slowly realizing some of the subsequent changes and trying to restore the originality
(which is impossible). An example is that the word ‘begotten’ has been dropped from John
1:14, 18 and 3:16 in both the RSV and Good News versions of the Bible. Had it not been
dropped, it would still have made no difference because even in that there is nothing unique
about Jesus being begotten. As we have quoted above, even David was begotten. The addition
of “only” does not add any benefit either, because the same word that is translated as “only
begotten” for Jesus was used in Hebrews 11:17 for Isaac who had an elder brother who
outlived his father Abraham. Hence Isaac was never the “only begotten” in the normal sense of
the words.

As we can see, none of the above mentioned arguments hold water in attributing any sort of
divinity to Jesus. The key questions remains, “Did Jesus ever claim divinity for himself.” Some
people think that he did. They quote John 8:58 where in Jesus has been quoted to say, “Before
Abraham was, I am.” Although it is a meaningless statement that should indicate a problem
with the textual integrity of the Bible, it is interpreted to indicate Jesus’ divinity. To interpret
this for that purpose, they press Exodus 3:14 which reports that God said to Moses, “I am who
I am” and “I am has sent me”. Although it is a simple matter where Allaah SWT is indicating
that His real nature cannot be described in finite human terms, through twisted logic they try to
build a case on its basis. From this they conclude that when Jesus said, “I am”, He is meant that
he is eternally divine. Those scholars who know Greek and have studied Greek texts point out
something that is conveniently overlooked by the proponents of Jesus’ divinity: Septuagint Old
Testament uses Greek words “HO ON” for “I am” in Exodus while John uses “EGO EIMI” for
Jesus’ “I am”. As the Gospel writer John who wrote his Gospel in Greek did not use the same
words as the pre-existing Greek Septuagint had used in Exodus expression, it cannot be
claimed that John equated the two expressions. The use of “Ego eimi” for “I am” is a normal

93
Matthew 5:9
human use. For example, When Jeremiah was appointed by God for Prophetic mission, he
responded: “Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am (Ego eimi) a child.”94

Another play on words is undertaken when people present John 10:30 as a proof of Jesus’
divinity. Here he is claimed to have said, “I and Father are one.” If this verse is read in its
context, it just means that both God and His messenger are one in the goals and mission they
want to achieve for people. But taken out of context, it appears as if both are one and the same
in their divinity. The interesting thing is that if it is taken to mean that way, it gives rise to
another problem. The same John later reports that Jesus said,

“That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also
may be one in us: … that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou
in me, that they may be made perfect in one...” (John 17:21-23)

Hence in whatever sense Jesus and God were one, in the same sense all his followers are also
one with him and God. Thus, either every Tom, Dick and Harry among Christians is divine, or
no one, including Jesus, is. In fact, he had indicated to the last moment of his life on earth that
Allaah is his Father and God as is he Father and God of everyone else:

Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead
to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God
and your God.’ ” (John 20:17)95

Another interesting aspect is that the Jews wanted to use this excuse to stone Jesus for
blasphemy, but Jesus strongly refuted their claim and explained that the terms son of God is
used to express closeness to God just as all the prophets of God were called in Jewish
scriptures as gods96. In his defence, he said,

Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are gods’? If he
called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came–and the Scripture cannot be
broken– what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into
the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God's
Son’? (John 10:34-36)

The irony is that Christians are attributing to Jesus the same crime that the Jews were accusing
him of and which he was refuting).

The last argument that is presented in favour of Jesus’ divinity is that he is quoted in John 14:9,
“He who has seen me has seen the Father.” Considering the context, it was a nice way of
answering a stupid question. People who do not understand the infiniteness of Allaah, usually
desire to see Him. Thus Philip asked Jesus to show the Father. In return he, like every other
messenger of Allaah, presented his pure life as an evidence of Allaah’s existence and presented
himself as His representative and messenger. Taken out of context, it may sound as if Jesus and

94
Jeremiah 1:6
95
NIV
96
"I said, 'You are "gods"; you are all sons of the Most High.' (Psalms 82:6)
God are one and the same, hence seeing Jesus means seeing God. That is not true. If it is taken
to mean that way, it is contradicted by Jesus himself in the same Gospel, where he addresses a
crowd about the Father saying:

“You have not neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form.” (John 5:37)

The fact is that Jesus never claimed divinity or equality with God. He frequently mentioned the
fact that he was sent (as a messenger of Allaah) and he excluded himself from divine attributes
of Allaah. For example:

"For I have not spoken on my own authority; but the Father who sent me gave me a
command, what I should say and what I should speak." (John 12:49)

“Now this is eternal life: that they (people) may know you, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

"Jesus said; 'Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master; neither
one who is sent greater than the One who sent him.' " (John 13:16)

“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,
but only the Father. 33Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will
come. (Mark 13-32-33)

"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father
only." (Matthew 24:36)

"And Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.' "
(Mark 10:18)

“If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is
greater than I”. (John 14:28)

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Luke 23:46

That is why his apostles considered him a servant of God, just as other prophets and
Messengers are servants of God:

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his
servant Jesus. (Acts 3:13)

If there is still any doubt left in your mind, then think of the following points:

When Jesus withdrew himself to the wilderness to pray (Luke 5:16), whom did he pray to? To
himself? Or when he cried on the cross, whom did he cry to?

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Mark 15:34
Or when he taught his disciples to pray, did he teach them to pray “in Jesus’ name”? When
some people made a mistake of calling him God during his mission, according to the Gospel of
Barnabas, he was extremely upset and rebuked them:

"And when he had said this, the crowed drew high, and when they knew him they
began to cry out: ' Welcome to thee, O our God!' and they began to do him reverence,
as unto God. Whereupon Jesus gave a great groan and said: ' Get ye from before me,
O mad men, for I fear lest the earth should open and devour me with you for your
abominable words!' Whereupon the people were filled with terror and began to weep.

Then Jesus, having lifted his hand in token of silence, said: ‘Verily ye have erred
greatly, O Israelites, in calling me, a man, your God. And I fear that God may for this
give heavy plague upon the holy city.....I confess before heaven, ....that I am stranger
to all that ye have said; seeing that I am man, born of a mortal woman, subject to the
judgment of God, suffering the miseries of eating and sleeping, of cold and heat, like
other men,..Whereupon when God shall come to judge, my words like a sword shall
pierce each one (of them) that believe me to be more than a man," (Gospel of
Barnabas Ch#92-93)

As we have just witnessed in the verse 50-51, ‘Eesa was unequivocal in telling people:

I have come to you (as a messenger) with a Sign from your Lord. So fear Allaah, and
obey me. It is Allaah Who is my Lord and your Lord; so worship Him like slaves. This
is the straight path.

A person may wonder, if Jesus never claimed to be equal to God, begotten son of God or God
Incarnate, how did it come to be generally believed as such? This was a heresy invented by
Paul who was not a disciple of Jesus and, hence, was never educated or trained by him. When
Paul adopted Christianity, he introduced this heresy to make Christianity palatable to the
pagans who already believed in trinity and a begotten son. The effect was that pagans did
convert to Christianity in droves, but the myth created to bring them into fold developed its
own momentum and took a life of its own. The closest example is the myth of Santa Clause
and its accoutrements. Every adult knows that it is false, but they do their best to ensure that
the myth lives on and the children are duped into believing it. The only difference is that
sooner or later children discover the reality and grow out of the myth. The question is when are
adults going to grow out of the myths surrounding Jesus? The purpose of this chapter is
precisely to help you discover the reality so that you can grow out of the myth you have been
conditioned to accept as factual.

The Christians who think independently and study the scriptures with open mind do discover
the truth as is indicated by the following two examples:

Jesus was (as he is presented in Acts 2:21) 'a man approved by God' for a special role
within the divine purpose, and...the later conception of him as God incarnate, the
Second Person of the Holy Trinity living a human life, is a mythological or poetic
way of expressing his significance for us.97

97
John Hick (ed.), The Myth Of God Incarnate, The Westminster Press (1977), p. ix
 The following are the questions extracted from Theophilus Lindsey's (1723-1808) A
List of False Reading of the Scripture. Lindsey asked those who worshipped Jesus
what their reaction would be if Jesus appeared to them and asked the following
questions:

Why did you address your devotions to me? Did I ever direct you to do it, or
propose myself as an object of religious worship?

Did I not uniformly and to the last set you an example myself of praying to
the Father, to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God? (John
20:17)

When my disciples requested me to teach them to pray (Luke 11:1-2), did I

teach them to pray to myself or to any other person but the Father?

Did I ever call myself God, or tell you that I was the maker of the world and
to be worshipped?98

One of the objectives of the Qur-aan is to warn those who continue to insist on claiming that
Allaah has ‘begotten a son”:

Also to warn those who say, "Allaah has begotten a son". They have no knowledge of
it, nor had their fathers; a dreadful word it is that comes out of their mouths; they
speak nothing but a lie. (The Qur-aan 18:4-5)

Their hopes that Jesus being Son of God expiated for their sins have been shattered and the
wickedness of their claims has been exposed by the following passage:

The day We shall gather the righteous to the Most Gracious (Allaah) to receive
honours and We will drive the guilty to Hell thirsty, none shall have the power of
intercession, but such a one as has received a covenant from the Most Gracious. They
say: "The Most Gracious has begotten a son!" Certainly you have made an
abominable assertion. The heavens may almost burst, and the earth cleave asunder,
and the mountains fall down in pieces -- that they ascribe a son to the Most Gracious;
for it is not consonant with the Majesty of the Most Gracious. There is no one in the
heavens and the earth but will come to the Most Gracious as a slave. Certainly He
has a comprehensive knowledge of them and He has numbered them a
(comprehensive) numbering. And every one of them will come to Him on the Day of
Resurrection alone. Only on those who believe and do good deeds will Most Gracious
bestow love. (The Qur-aan 19:85-96)

Then, the Christians have been warned:

98
Adapted from Muhammad `Ata ur-Rahim, Jesus A Prophet of Islam, p. 166
 O People of the Book! Do not exaggerate in your religious matters; nor say anything
about Allaah except the truth. The Messiah, ‘Eesa son of Maryam, was only a
messenger of Allaah and His command that He directed to Maryam, and a spirit from
Him. So believe in Allaah and His messengers, and do not say, Three. Desist, it is
better for you. Allaah is the only one God; far is it from His transcendent glory that
He should have a son. His is all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth; and
Allaah is sufficient as a Caretaker. The Messiah would never disdain to be a slave of
Allaah, nor would the angels who are near to Him; and whoever disdains being slave
to Him and is arrogant, He will gather them all together to Himself. Then as for those
who believe and do good deeds, He will pay them fully their rewards and give them
more out of His grace; and as for those who are disdainful and arrogant, He will
punish them with a painful punishment. And they shall not find for themselves besides
Allaah a guardian or a helper. (The Qur-aan 4:171-173)

On the Day of Judgment, the following conversation will take place between Allaah SWT and
Jesus:

And behold! Allaah will say: "O Jesus the son of Mary! Did you say to people, “Take
me and my mother for two gods besides Allaah”? He will say: "Glory be to You!
Never could I say what I had no right to say. Had I said such a thing, You would
indeed have known it. You know what is in my heart, and I do not know what is in
yours. For Surely You know in full all that is hidden. I did not say to them anything
except what You did enjoin me with: That serve Allaah, my Lord and your Lord. (The
Qur-aan 5:116-117)

Because of all these reasons, the Christian delegation that had come for a fact-finding mission
had realized that the Qur-aanic statements were absolutely true and that they did not have any
evidence to refute them. They had also witnessed the truth in the teachings, the personality and
the character of the Prophet and in the quality of the character of his companions. However,
they continued to deny the truth publicly and to pretend as if they were not convinced. To
expose the reality they were feeling inside, Allaah SWT asked the Prophet to invite them in the
following manner:

61
So whoever disputes with you in this matter after what has come to you of
knowledge, then invite them: “Come let us summon our sons and your sons
and our women and your women and ourselves and yourselves, then let us
beseech earnestly and invoke the curse of Allaah upon liars.” 62 This indeed is
the true narration. There is no god except Allaah; and most surely He, Allaah,
is the Mighty, the Wise. 63 But if they turn back, then surely Allaah knows well
the trouble-makers.

The term used in Arabic for ‘beseeching earnestly’ is ‘mubaahalah’. Although its literal
meaning is neutral in the kind of things that are earnestly prayed for, it is used for two parties
invoking curse or punishment on whoever is a liar of the two. This is to pressure a dishonest
party to bring open their real inner feelings or suffer the consequences of the curse of Allaah.
To make it more effective, the loved ones may also be included in the invocation of the curse.
When this invitation was presented to the Christian delegation, they refused to take the
challenge proving to the world that despite their claims, they do not have confidence in their
own beliefs.

Islam is a rational religion of knowledge and understanding. Its propagation must be done and
its call must be made through the best possible exchange of ideas and developing of
understanding until it makes sense to people and they accept its truth on their free will.
However, when all else fails, mubaahalah can be used as a last resort in exceptional
circumstances especially when it becomes evident that people have been provided convincing
evidence and knowledge but they are refusing to accept it because of their bigotry or ulterior
motives while their refusal to accept the truth of Islam is becoming a barrier in the way of
acceptance of truth by other people who regard them in high esteem.
After revealing the facts about ‘Eesa AS, the Qur-aan is inviting all Jews and Christians to
Towheed – the commonly held belief that God is one. Both of the groups claim that they
believe in one God on the basis of explicit teachings of their books. But they have defeated the
teachings of their books by their practice to the contrary or by their misguided philosophies.
They are being invited to purify their views and practice and live by that claim.
64
Say: "O People of the Book! Rally to a matter that is common between you
and us:

Not serving like slaves anyone but Allaah;

Not equating anything else with Him; and,

Not taking one another as lords instead of Allaah.”
Then, if they turn away, you as an ummah say to them: “Bear witness that we
are Muslims (those who have submitted completely to Him).”

Here the concept of Towheed has been explained in three ways. Firstly, believing in one God
does not merely apply to the performance of some rituals. It means that a believer must submit
to Him voluntarily serving like a slave, obeying Him in every matter with love, craze, respect,
and devotion wholeheartedly, happily, enthusiastically, without any reservations, questions,
hesitation, ifs or buts. Secondly, this kind of obedience, submission, devotion, love, respect,
praise or importance should not be accorded to anyone else at all. If anyone or anything else is
given the importance, significance, love, reverence, devotion, loyalty or obedience to the same
level as or more than Allaah, that person or thing has been made a partner to Allaah. The Jews
had made wealth and worldly expediencies partners with Allaah and the Christians had made
Jesus a partner with Allaah. Thirdly, Allaah’s law must apply to the whole life -- nothing can
be excluded or considered secular and no one can overrule the laws of Allaah regardless of
who the person is. If a law that is at variance with the law of Allaah is accepted from any
human being, that person has been taken as a lord instead of Allaah. The Jews had taken their
rabbis as their lords by listening to them instead of Allaah and His Messenger. The Christians
had taken Paul, their pope, their ministers and their priests as lords other than Allaah by
accepting their religious interpretations and verdicts instead of the Islamic teachings from
Allaah and His Messenger.

Unfortunately, the majority of people who claim to be Muslims have also taken other lords and
gods besides Allaah the way the Jews and Christians did. The Muslim ummah will continue to
suffer unless and until we practice Towheed as it was practised by the Prophet and his
companions, making our lives, priorities, love, obedience, etc. all Allaah-centred so that
everything else becomes subsidiary and subservient to seeking of Allaah’s pleasure and
working for objectives of Deen.

When it comes to Towheed, the Qur-aan always presents Ibraheem as an excellent model of
correct faith and practice of Towheed. However, the Jews claimed to be the followers of
Ibraheem and, in fact, it was only because of him that they claimed to be chosen people. The
Christians also agreed that Ibraheem was a chosen one of Allaah. If that was the case, then
obviously whatever Ibraheem believed and practised must be right and must be followed,
something which none of them were doing. So they have been asked to think about it.
65
O People of the Book! Why do you argue about Ibraheem when the Towraah
and Gospel were sent down after him? Do you not understand? 66 You are the
people who argued about the matters about which you had some knowledge,
but why would you argue about something of which you have absolutely no
knowledge? The fact is that Allaah knows while you do not! 67 Ibraheem was
neither a Jew nor a Christian but he was an upright man who had submitted to
Allaah as a Muslim and he was not one of those who ascribe partners to
Allaah. 68 Most surely the closest people to Ibraheem are those who followed
him, and this Prophet and the believers. And Allaah is the guardian of the
believers.

It was shown and demonstrated repeatedly by the Qur-aan that Ibraheem was an ideal and
model Muslim who had adopted Towheed and lived his whole life on the path of Towheed
exactly the same way as the Prophet and his companions were preaching and practising –
submitting to Allaah completely, exclusively and uncompromisingly – and the current Islamic
movement of the Prophet was exactly the same mission to which Ibraheem had dedicated his
life. But the Jews and Christians continued to argue and pretend as if Ibraheem’s ways were
different than Islamic beliefs and lifestyle. They had even manipulated the contents of their
Book and misinterpreted the remaining contents in a way to disassociate Ibraheem from the
Prophet and Islam, as was described in detail while discussing the teachings of Soorah Al-
Baqarah. Here the Qur-aan is responding to their dishonest, argumentative tactics from a
different angle. They all agreed that Ibraheem was Allaah’s chosen person. Now if, for
argument’s sake it is taken as given that Judaism and Christianity were based on Towraah and
Gospels respectively, it automatically implies that Ibraheem was neither a Jew nor a Christian
because the books on which they are based were revealed long after Ibraheem. Hence, they can
neither claim that Ibraheem’s way was their way, nor they should argue about Ibraheem’s true
faith and practice because Allaah knows about these matters better than them or their books.
The fact is that He was an upright Muslim who believed and followed Islam and Towheed as
being preached by the Prophet. Hence, this prophet and his followers are the people who are
closest to Ibraheem. The closeness to Ibraheem is not based on race, genealogy, or baseless
claims to Allaah’s blessings, but on the faith and mission for which Ibraheem dedicated his
whole life and made all kind of sacrifices. It is the Muslims carrying on that mission who will
be helped and supported by Allaah SWT.

69
A faction99 from the People of the Book wants to lead you astray, yet they
only lead themselves astray, though they do not realize. 70 O People of the
Book! Why do you disbelieve in the Signs of Allaah, while you witness them?
71
O People of the Book! Why do you confound the truth with the falsehood
and knowingly conceal the truth?
99
It should be noted that if a crime is committed by a certain faction of the people, the Qur-aan is very
careful not to attribute it to everyone in that society. Rather it clearly indicates that only a group of people
are doing so. Also, if some people are good in terms of the point being mentioned, the Qur-aan makes a
point of mentioning their goodness and not ignoring it. This point will become more evident in the
subsequent verses of this discourse.
The opposition to Islam by the religious and political leaders of the Jews and Christians using
tactics such as arguments about Ibraheem AS are not undertaken for some matters of principles
or altruistic reasons. The purpose is merely to create doubts in the minds of people and to
pressure them into abandoning or ignoring Islam. What they do not realize is that they
themselves are the primary victims of their propaganda as it deprives them of the opportunity
to accept the truth because their argumentation only hardens them in their misguidance and
closes their own minds from accepting the truth and the facts. They become so close-minded
that they see right in front of them the signs of truth of Islam, but they keep denying them.
They witness the beauty in the life of the Prophet, the blessings of Allaah in his mission and all
the signs that were mentioned in their books being fulfilled, but they continue to reject him.
They see the beautiful teachings of Islam producing the most excellent individuals and most
just society that the heavens have ever seen, but they refuse to join it. Instead they continue to
conceal the truth they know from their books and traditions about the Prophet, his mission and
his relationship with Ibraheem and his mission.

Instead of learning from these signs, revealing the truth and accepting Islam, they play games
to create hindrances in the way of the Prophet’s mission and to turn people away from Islam.
72
A faction from the People of the Book say: “Believe in the morning what is
sent down to the believers, then reject it at the end of the day; perhaps they go
back on their religion. 73 And believe only in someone who follows your
religion.” Tell them, “True guidance is only Allaah’s guidance.” They
continue, “Lest someone is given what you have been given or they argue
against you in the presence of your Lord.” Say to them, “Indeed, the bounty is
in Allaah's hand, He gives it to whom He pleases; and Allaah is Ample-giving,
Knowing.100 74 He dedicates His mercy for whomever He wants; and Allaah is
bestower of tremendous bounty.

This refers to a game that was played by the Jews of Madeenah to discredit the Prophet and
Islam. They prepared a corpse of volunteers who would come to the Prophet, pretend to accept
Islam and announce their acceptance so that it was well known. Then later on, they would
renounce it, quoting some pre-determined excuses and accusations on the Prophet and Islam.
The Jews could play this game more effectively than others because they were already known
in the society for their knowledge of the Book and God. So they could pretend that they
sincerely believed in Islam but then they found such and such bad things; thus they renounced
it when they discovered that it was not a true religion or the Prophet was not a true prophet.
The volunteers were taught and coached that they should not believe at all in anything or trust
anyone unless the person is of their own faith. This was done to ensure that a person who was
being sent to pretend did not end up becoming a real Muslim and that his mind remained
closed by the racist bigotry in which he was coached. The purpose of this game was that it

100
There are a few different ways in which the composition of this verse is understood. The teachings
described here follow the approach adopted by Amin Ahsan Islahi in his Tadabburul Qur-aan vol. II. His
approach was found to be the most logical, sensible and perfectly in line with other verses on related
topics in the Qur-aan
gave them an opportunity to get to know the fresh new Muslims who did not have a chance to
properly understand Islam and get to know the Prophet, and then encourage them to renounce
Islam by creating doubts in their minds. It also gave them ammunition to discourage anyone
who was contemplating to become Muslim from accepting Islam by pointing out their own
disappointments. The motives for these activities were:

1. To cause the Prophet’s mission to fail so that their own established leadership and
their own status as chosen people remained unchallenged. This has been mentioned in
Soorah Nisaa in the following manner:

Or are they jealous of Muslims for what Allaah has given them
of His grace? But indeed We have given to Ibraheem's people
the Book and the Wisdom, and We have given them a grand
dominion. An-Nisaa 4:54
2. To ensure that no positive comment was uttered in favour of Islam or Muslims so that
Muslims could not use it against them in the court of Allaah SWT that they did realize
the truth of Islam but did not accept it. This was also described in Soorah Al-Baqarah
in the following words:

But when they meet each other in private, they say: “Do you tell
them what Allaah has disclosed to you that they may use it to
argue against you before your Lord; do you not then
understand?” Al-Baqarah 2:76
While describing their game and their motives, Allaah SWT interrupted the flow to respond to
their bigoted approach to keep their minds closed to non-Jewish sources and advised the
Prophet to tell them that the true guidance is the guidance of Allaah which people should
accept with open hearts and minds free of any racial or parochial bigotry. Then at the end,
Allaah SWT responded to their efforts to deprive Ishmaelites of Allaah’s bounties by advising
the Prophet to remind them that Allaah SWT gives all his bounties including guidance and
leadership to whomever he wants. Their games are not going to hinder Allaah’s mercy and
bounty upon the Prophet and his followers.

The next verse describes their bigotry and discrimination in their dealings with non-Jews to
indicate the kind of racist attitude that makes them oppose Islam and Muslims. However,
before describing their evil, their sensible, good people have been acknowledged and excepted
from the comment from the outset.

75
Although there are some among the People of the Book who, if entrusted
with a heap of wealth, shall hand it back to you; yet there are others who, if
entrusted with a single gold coin, shall not hand it back to you unless you keep
standing over him demanding it. This is because they claim: “We are not
accountable for any matters pertaining to Gentiles.” Thus they tell a lie against
Allaah knowing their claim to be unfounded. 76 Instead, whoever fulfills his
covenant to Him and maintains Taqwa, then indeed, Allaah likes those who
maintain Taqwa. 77 As for those who barter Allaah’s covenant and their own
oaths for a small price, they shall have no portion in the hereafter, and Allaah
will not speak to them, nor will He look upon them on the day of resurrection
nor will He purify them, and they shall have a painful punishment.

The Qur-aan has used an example of their financial dealings to indicate their corrupt behaviour
that was being practised by a faction of the Jews of Madeenah. Their behaviour was
encouraged by many Rabbinic teachings contained in the books such as Talmud and other
rabbinic literature, which indicate that misappropriating the money or belongings of non-Jews
is acceptable for the Jews. Following are a few examples:
Gentiles are outside the protection of the law and God has "exposed their money to
Israel." Baba Kamma 37b.

If a Jew finds an object lost by a Gentile ("heathen") it does not have to be returned.
Baba Mezia 24a (Affirmed also in Baba Kamma 113b).

"The name of God is not profaned when, for example, a Jew lies to a Goi by saying: 'I
gave something to your father, but he is dead; you must return it to me,' as long as the
Goi does not know that you are lying." the Babha Kama (113b)

A Jew need not pay a Gentile ("Cuthean") the wages owed him for work. Sanhedrin
57a

"All things pertaining to the Goim are like a desert; the first person to come along and
take them can claim them for his own." Baba Bathra (54 b)

"It is allowed to take usury from Apostates who fall into idolatry." Abhodah Zarah
(54a)101

"If an ox of an Israelite gores an ox of a Canaanite there is no liability; but if an ox of

a Canaanite gores an ox of an Israelite...the payment is to be in full." Baba Kamma
37b.

"Our teaching is as follows: When a Jew and a Goi come into court, absolve the Jew,
if you can, according to the laws of Israel. If the Goi wins, tell him that is what our
laws require. If however, the Jew can be absolved according to the gentile law,
absolve him and say it is due to our laws. If this cannot be done proceed callously
against the Goim, as Rabbi Ischmael advises. Rabbi Akibha, however, holds that you
cannot act fraudulently lest you profane the Name of God, and have a Jew committed

101
This is actually based on their Torah:
20 To a foreigner you may lend upon interest, but to your brother you shall not lend upon
interest; that the LORD your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land which you
are entering to take possession of it.
 for perjury." A marginal note, however, explains this qualification of Rabbi Akibha
as:
"The name of God is not profaned when it is not known by the Goi that the Jew has
lied." Babha Kama (113a)

Fooling people with dishonest games was practised in non-monetary dealings as well. One of
their great Rabbis, Rabbi Akibah played the following game:

He went therefore to the boy's mother whom he saw sitting in the market place selling
vegetables and said to her: "My daughter, if you will answer truthfully what I am
going to ask you, I promise that you will be saved in the next life." She demanded that
he would swear to keep his promise, and Rabbi Akibah did so - but with his lips only,
for in his heart he invalidated his oath. Kallah, 1b (For making this false oath and
cheating through it, he was praised by other rabbis.)

These examples are just to show how religious teachings become distorted when manipulated
by religious leaders. The point to note is that when a religion grants an excuse for corruption,
under whatever pretext, then the followers of that religion start practising all kind of
corruption, dishonesty or lies cloaked in the garb of religious piety. However, the Qur-aan
clarifies that these are their invented lies that they have inserted in their religion. Allaah’s Deen
always taught fairness, justice and equity for all. Allaah SWT will hold them accountable for
every dishonesty and cheating they practise. They fabricate lies to cheat people to get some
worldly benefit, but they will be big losers in the hereafter. Thus they are paying a huge price
for this little benefit. They think that they are chosen people of Allaah, while, in fact, Allaah
SWT will not even look at them or talk to them on the Day of Judgment. Allaah SWT likes
only those who are honest, fair and truthful in their dealings with everyone.

In attributing lies to Allaah, they have gone so far as pronouncing or spelling the words of the
scripture wrongly to give false meaning and to support their false claims.

78
Then there is a group among them who alter the Book with twisting of their
tongues such that you assume that the wording is from the Book while, in fact,
it is not from the Book; and they claim it to be from Allaah while it is not from
Allaah. Thus they tell a lie against Allaah, and they know it.

Some of the examples of their word manipulations were given in Soorah Al-Baqarah,
especially how they twisted the words around so that the clear link between Ibraheem and the
Prophet can be hidden. Similarly, Christians have been twisting the words of gospel in their
efforts to prove the divinity of Jesus from the Bible. Common people must beware of these
dishonest tactics of their rabbis and priests.

Unfortunately some people who claim to be Muslims play the same game with the Noble Qur-
aan. Those who do not want to accept the Prophet as a human being misread the words of the
Qur-aan that clearly describe him as human being. Similarly, those who do not want to believe
in miracles disregard the usage and the context of the words of the Qur-aan and search for
abnormal meanings from the dictionaries until they find some meaning they can apply to
somehow deny the miraculous realities mentioned in the Qur-aan.
The next verse invites Christians to think about the falsehood they had created about Jesus.

79
It is not possible that a human being to whom Allaah grants the Book,
authority and prophethood would ever say to people, “Become my slaves
rather than Allaah's”; instead, he would invite, “Become Allaah-centred
according to the Book that you teach and learn.” 80 Nor would he command
you to treat angels and prophets as gods. Would he command you to disbelieve
after you have become Muslim?
It has been stated as general rule that a true messenger or prophet of Allaah would never claim
to be anything more than a human being. He would never try to take the place of God or ask
people to become worshippers of himself or that of any angel or any other prophet. He would
always call people to become the true slaves of Allaah who are Allaah-centred in all their
actions and dealings. The human beings selected for appointment as prophets and messengers
are very honest, truthful and trustworthy people. They invite people to pure Towheed so that
people dedicate their servitude to Allaah only, not to anyone else. Hence, if you see any
religious teaching to the contrary, it has to be an interpolation, alteration or twisting by
subsequent unscrupulous religious leaders. It cannot be from a messenger. How can a
messenger call you to become Muslim and then also ask you to disbelieve? It does not make
sense! It is impossible! Thus, people in general, but the Christians in particular, must
understand that divinity of Prophet Jesus or Angel Gabriel (Holy Ghost) are both against the
historical facts as well as against logic.

This concludes the direct invitation to Christians to become Muslims as true followers of Jesus,
but the mention of the previous commitments of the people of the Book in general and their
obligations under their covenants continues, as does invitation to them to honour their
obligations.

Allaah SWT had informed the people of the Book, both the Jews and Christians, through the
prophets sent to them for their guidance, about the coming of the final Messenger of Allaah,
Muhammad ŝall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, whom they must believe in, follow and actively
support in his mission. Now that the Prophet had come but they were not honouring their
covenant made to Allaah in this respect, they are being reminded of it.
81
They should remember when Allaah took from them a covenant concerning
the prophets, saying, “Now that I have given you the currently applicable
portion of the Book and wisdom, you must believe in and you must help the
Messenger who will come afterwards corroborating what you already have.”
Then He asked, “Do you affirm and commit to undertake this responsibility?”
They answered, “We do affirm.” He said, “Then bear witness, and I am with
you among the witnesses. 82 Whoever, therefore, turns back after this, they are
the transgressors.”
Verse 81 reminds people of the Book about a covenant that was taken from them in a very
special, emphatic manner to the effect that they must believe in and support future messengers.
Accordingly, the Jews should have believed in and supported Yaĥyaa AS and ‘Eesa AS while
both the Jews and Christians should have believed in and supported Muhammad sa’ws. This is
the simple message of this verse. However, some people translate it as if this was a covenant
that was taken from all the prophets themselves. From there, then, they conclude that it must
have also been taken from Prophet Muhammad ŝall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, who then
cannot be the last prophet. This is totally absurd and baseless. Nowhere has there ever been
reported any covenant being taken from our Prophet or the Muslims in that respect. Rather we
find that the Qur-aan and Ĥadeeth are clear about Prophet Muhammad being the last Prophet
and Messenger of Allaah and there are very strong teachings warning Muslims not to believe
in any Prophet or Messenger after Muhammad ŝall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. The fact is that
this covenant was taken only from previous ummahs through their prophets.

Regarding the covenants between Allaah and people, it should be understood that in principle
every command of Allaah is a covenant for people to fulfil. But for the people of the Book, the
commands were formally transacted as covenants. The people were assembled, the command
was read and covenant was taken from people that they would abide by it. Some of the most
important of these covenants have been reminded to them through the Qur-aan, out of which
this covenant is very special and was taken with extraordinary emphasis and confirmations. Its
applicability to all messengers succeeding Moosa AS is mentioned in Soorah Al-Maaidah:

And certainly Allaah made a covenant with the children of Israel, and
We appointed twelve chieftains among them; and Allaah said, “Surely I
am with you -- if you establish Ŝalaah and pay Zakaah and believe in
My messengers and assist them and lend to Allaah a beautiful loan, I
will most certainly remit your sins, and I will most certainly admit you
into gardens beneath which rivers flow; however, anyone who
disbelieves from among you after that, he indeed has lost the right
way.” 102
But in addition to the other messengers, this covenant was specifically taken about our Prophet
Muhammad ŝall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and has been described in more detail in Soorah
A‘raaf in the following words:

So I shall ordain my mercy for those who maintain Taqwa, pay Zakaah,
and those who believe in Our signs. Those who follow the Messenger,
the unlettered gentile Prophet, whom they find mentioned in the
Towraat and the Injeel, and who enjoins them good and forbids them
evil, and makes lawful to them the good things and makes unlawful to
them foul things, and removes from them their burden and the shackles
which are upon them. So those who believe in him, and honour him,

102
Al-Maaidah 5:12
 and help him, and follow the light which is sent down with him, they are
the successful.103
The purpose of mentioning the covenant here is to encourage the Jews and Christians to
honour it by believing in the Messenger and helping him in his mission rather than opposing
him through their dirty games that were mentioned in the previous section. Their reneging
from a covenant that was seriously made and emphatically re-affirmed indicates that they are
rebelliously disobedient to Allaah despite their claims to be believers in Him. And they will be
held accountable for this rebellion and suffer its consequences.104

The mission of the Prophet is to bring people back to the pure Islam that has been the only
lifestyle approved by Allaah for people. The whole universe follows Islam and is Muslim to
Allaah because it has been pre-programmed to be that way through laws of nature and instincts
promulgated by Allaah SWT. However, while giving people freedom to act, Allaah also
prescribed Islam for them so that they can establish a just, caring and loving society. That is
why Islam has been the only Deen prescribed for human beings by Allaah. It is the only Deen
that was taught by the previous prophets and books. The people of the book have deviated
away from Islam that was taught to them by their prophets and books. Instead they have started
following Judaism and Christianity – two hodgepodge religions concocted by their Rabbis and
priests with their extremism, misguidance, innovations and heresies. Their rejection of the
Prophet’s call to Islam means that they want a Deen other than what Allaah has prescribed for
them. However, they should know it well that nothing else than adoption of pure and complete
Islam is acceptable to Allaah SWT -- nothing more, nothing less.

83
Is it then other than Allaah's Deen105 that they seek while everything else in
the universe submits to Him as a Muslim, willingly or unwillingly, and to Him
shall they be returned? 84 Let them know: “We believe in Allaah and what has
been revealed to us, and what was revealed to Ibraheem, Ismaa‘eel, Isĥaaq and
Ya‘qoob and his descendents as well as in what was given to Moosa and ‘Eesa
and to the other prophets from their Lord. We do not discriminate among any
of them. And to Him do we submit as Muslims.” 85 The fact is that whoever
follows a Deen other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him, and he will
be among the losers in the hereafter.

The people of the Book think that they can pick and choose among the prophets and
messengers of Allaah, as they like. Based on various reasons such as obduracy, jealousy and
racist prejudice, the Jews rejected ‘Eesa and Muhammad. Because of their misguidance about
‘Eesa, the Christians rejected Muhammad. They all have been repeatedly told that all
representatives of Allaah sent as prophets or messengers are one brotherhood and one

103
Al-A‘raaf 156-157
104
After the covenant that was taken for our Prophet, they were told: “And whoever will not give heed
to my words which he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.” Duet 18:19 RSV
105
Allaah’s Deen means a lifestyle paradigm and system mandated by Allaah
institution. Rejection of any of them is tantamount to rejection of all. A Muslim must accept all
of them without discriminating against any of them.

In the light of the rejection of Islam and discrimination against some prophets of Allaah by the
people of the Book, Muslims have been asked to declare with pride that they have opted for the
Deen of Islam that was the Deen of all previous prophets and messengers in all of whom they
believe without any discrimination.

Believing in Allaah’s Messenger ŝall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and helping him in his mission
of making Islam the dominant lifestyle in this world is so crucial that without it belief in other
articles of faith or practice of other religious things is rendered useless. Such a person is still
considered devoid of guidance of Allaah and that is how that person will be treated in the
hereafter. Disbelief in the Messenger ŝall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam becomes even a severer
crime when a person has realized in his heart the truth about the Prophet ŝall-Allaahu ‘alayhi
wa sallam but continues to reject him and his mission. Regardless of how ‘good’ such a person
is in other matters, the seriousness of this crime nullifies everything else and Allaah SWT does
not care about doing anything special to guide that person.
86
How is it possible for Allaah to guide a people who disbelieved after their
believing and while they had testified that the Messenger was right and clear
Signs had come to them? Allaah does not guide the unjust people. 87 Rather,
what they get is the curse of Allaah, of angels and of all mankind. 88 They will
abide therein forever; punishment will not be lightened for them nor will they
be granted any respite. 89 Except for those who repent later on and reform; then
surely Allaah is Forgiving, Merciful. 90 However, those who disbelieve after
their believing, then increase in disbelief, their repentance shall not be
accepted, and they are the truly misguided. 91 Indeed none of those who
disbelieve and die as disbelievers will have the earth full of gold accepted as
ransom, should he offer to ransom himself with it. Instead, they will get a
painful punishment and they will have no helpers.

This was said about the Jews and Christians who had witnessed that all the signs about the
coming of the Prophet foretold in their books were perfectly applicable to the Prophet but
despite that, they continued opposing his mission. It is equally applicable to all contemporary
Jews and Christians who discover this truth but refrain from accepting Islam due to their own
reasons and expediencies. This also applies to all Muslims born in Muslim families but they do
not consciously accept the Prophet as their guide in life and do not dedicate their lives to the
Islamic mission.

The physical expression of the curse will be in the form of the painful punishment in Hell. It
indicates that on the Day of Judgment, in addition to be cursed by Allaah and His angels, such
people will be cursed by all good and bad people. By good people, for the problems they
caused in their way of establishing Islam in the world; and by the bad people, because of the
way they were misled by these miscreants.
Most of those people who do not participate in the Islamic movement to accomplish the
objectives of Deen or who hinder the way of that movement think of themselves as privileged
people who will receive a preferential treatment on the Day of Judgment from Allaah. Their
baseless presumptions are being corrected by telling them that there will be no respite or
leniency in punishment regardless of who they are unless they repent or reform. They will find
Allaah SWT forgiving and merciful only if they repent, believe in the Prophet, join the Islamic
mission he had started and reform themselves by dedicating their energies to the attainment of
objectives of deen and aligning their priorities with the goal of establishing Islam as the
dominant way of life.

Even the repentance will be accepted only from those who change their lifestyle and their
priorities in life according to the objectives of Deen. If someone increased in his disbelief by
creating obstructions in the way of Islamic mission and hindering the work of Islamic
movement by his words or deeds in any way, shape or form, his verbal repentance will not be
acceptable to Allaah SWT. To seek His forgiveness, the person must not only change his own
lifestyle completely to align with the Islamic movement but also take effective steps to expiate
the damage done to the Islamic movement in the past. This can be done by such means as
spending generously in the way of Allaah to help the Islamic mission, to publicly acknowledge
the wrong things said about the mission in the past, to spread the good word about the
movement and to counter the false propaganda against it.

If the people who reject the Prophet, and refuse to join and support his mission, die in that
condition, they have absolutely no chance of salvation. This point has been made by using the
concept of getting out of a difficult situation by paying your way out of it. Usually people think
that wealth can buy solutions to all problems. To impress upon them the impossibility of their
avoiding the punishment of Hell, they have been told that no amount of wealth will be able to
buy them freedom from Hell as nothing will be accepted from them as ransom. Gold is the
ultimate form of wealth. Although in reality there is not as much gold in the earth, but for
argument’s sake even if the whole earth was made of gold, all that wealth would be useless to
save a person from Allaah’s punishment. Hence for those who want to avoid punishment, the
only option they have is to change their attitude and lifestyle to align with Islam and its
objectives.

Another major factor that was stopping them from coming to Islam was their wrong concept of
Deen. The essence of Islam that has been the Deen of all prophets and messengers is such a
strong love of Allaah that a person is willing and ready to sacrifice every other favourite or
beloved thing for the pleasure of Allaah. When Islam is practised with that kind of love for
Allaah SWT, living by Islamic teachings makes a person an outright excellent person in
thoughts, personality, dealings and interactions and makes him the most caring, generous and
forgiving. It also results in creating a society of peace, and justice that is characterized with
excellence in magnanimity, generosity, caring and sharing. These are the objectives of Deen
and the targets of Islamic mission or Islamic movement. In other words, Islam is all about
creating individuals and a society who love Allaah so much that they sacrifice the most
beloved things in their lives for the achievement of the excellence that is the objectives of
Deen. That love of Allaah and pursuit of excellence was the millah of Ibraheem. All prophets
and messengers came and undertook their Islamic missions to develop such individuals and to
create such a society. To achieve these goals and objectives, people are taught some rules and
regulations. However, when after the departure of the prophet, the society starts degenerating,
the first thing people abandon is the mission and the objectives of Deen. They continue to
follow the rules and regulations and building upon them. As people keep asking more and
more questions, their scholars keep devising more and more rules and a huge body of
knowledge around them is developed that is given names such as Fiqh. Overtime, the spirit and
intent of original rules is totally lost and the objectives of Deen and the spirit of sacrifice for
the love of Allaah are totally replaced by intricate rules of Fiqh and some matters of
appearances such as beard, hairstyle, cap and certain items of clothing. A person who looks
and dresses in a certain way and follows certain rules is considered “righteous” or “pious”.
Many of those pious people are devoid of the qualities of the excellence and magnanimity that
is the objective of the Deen. Once an ummah becomes Fiqh-centred and appearance-focused,
people reject anyone who emphasizes the love of Allaah and objectives of Deen and de-
emphasizes the rules or removes the artificial burdens placed by the over-extended rules of
Fiqh. That was one of the main reasons the Jews had rejected ‘Eesa and Muhammad peace be
upon them.

The next few verses comment on this problem. Verse 92 tells them that no one can attain
“righteousness” or “piety” without sacrificing the beloved things for the love and pleasure of
Allaah SWT. Verse 93 takes the example of their rules about food and their criticism of
Islam’s “liberal” rules in that respect. They are being challenged that most of the burdensome
rules of Fiqh on food items they have are the fabrication of their own jurists and were not
originally imposed by Allaah SWT. He had imposed only those rules which are being taught
by Muhammad ŝall-Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam.

92
By no means shall you attain piety until you spend out of what you love; and
whatever you spend, Allaah surely knows it. 93 All food Ĥalaal in Islam was
also lawful to the children of Israel except that which Israel had forbidden to
himself, before the Towraat was revealed. Say: Bring then the Towraat and
read it, if you are truthful. 94 Then, whoever fabricates a lie against Allaah after
this, they really are the unjust. 95 Tell them, “Allaah has spoken the truth,
therefore, follow the millah of Ibraheem, the upright one; and he was not one
of the polytheists.

The Qur-aan always presents Ibraheem as a perfect model for both sacrificing everything for
the love of Allaah and the mission of Islam and for being so pure in Towĥeed that he did not
let anything, anyone or any religious rule be equated with Allaah in any way or sense.

The mention of Ibraheem leads to exposing their crime in respect of hiding the truth about
Ibraheem and his relationship with Makkah, the Prophet and Islam.

96
Most surely the first House of Allaah constructed for people is the one at
Bakkah, blessed and guidance for all the people. 97 In it are clear signs; it is in
Ibraheem’s place, whoever enters it attains security. Pilgrimage to the House is
incumbent upon people for the sake of Allaah -- every one who is able to
undertake the journey to it. As for him who disbelieves, then surely Allaah is
Self-sufficient, above any need of any of His creatures.
Bakkah means a city in Ibraheem’s mother tongue as is evident from the city names such as
Baalbak (city of Baal – a Babylonian god). When Ibraheem settled Haajirah and Ismaa‘eel in
the barren valley, he called this new settlement Bakkah, which overtime became Makkah. In
their efforts to hide the truth about Makkah, the people of the Book changed the word and its
description in their books to Baca valley106 – meaning the valley of crying so that people do
not think of it to be the same place as Makkah. They also changed the description of the place
where Ibraheem built the first house for the worship of Allaah SWT for the same reason to
hide the fact that the house being mentioned was the Holy Ka‘bah107.

The Noble Qur-aan has given three points that indicate that the Holy Ka‘bah is in fact the
House of Allaah built by Ibraheem if people reflect on these points:

It is at the place of Ibraheem’s residence;

It is blessed because it was the only place of peace and security in a lawless land;

It is sources of guidance that every year people come to it only for Ĥajj for the
pleasure of Allaah, thus even when all Arabs were worshipping idols, this house kept
them reminding about unity of Allaah.
Any one who denies this truth about the house of Allaah and insists on claiming Temple of
Jerusalem to be Ibraheem’s heritage is a disbeliever about whom Allaah does not care if he
remains misguided.

The above are examples of one of the ways how the people of the Book were disregarding
signs of Allaah and hindering people from Islam.

98
Ask them, “O People of the Book! Why do you reject the Signs of Allaah,
when Allaah Himself is witness of what you do.” 99 Query them, “O People of
the Book! Why do you hinder believers from the path of Allaah, seeking to
make it crooked while you are supposed to be the witnesses? Allaah is not
unaware of what you do.

Just imagine their obduracy; they see the signs but keep rejecting them. They were supposed to
witness the truth to help people find it but they are trying to hide it and turn people away from
it. If they have any faith in Allaah, they should shudder with fear that Allaah is watching them
playing these games.

This concludes the address to the people of the Book that started with verse 81.

106
Psalms 84:6
107
Gen. 12:7-8 and 13:2-4 Bethel mentioned in these verses means House of Allaah in Hebrew.
Verse 100 warns Muslims to be wary of those from the people of the Book who, to misguide
Muslims, play the games and use the tactics mentioned in the previous verses. Some of them
convert and revert to give the false impression that they were really seeking the truth which
they did not find in Islam. Some of them study Islam, or in contemporary terminology become
‘orientalists’, with the same intent. Some of them attack viciously and criticize openly and
vehemently in an organized manner, others come in the garb of friends who just want answers
and explanations for some “extremist” teachings of Islam. The extreme pressure from those
friends and foes alike puts Muslims on the defensive, especially those who are eagerly trying to
develop cordial relations with them, to such an extent that they start apologizing and
compromising on Islamic teachings. Those weak in faith and those who lack proper
understanding of Islam even start raising the same objections to Islamic teachings and either
develop doubts about Islam itself or about the veracity of those Islamic teachings. Although
they claim to believe in Allaah as the people of the Book, in playing these games they have no
fear of Allaah or no compunction. They do not relent their pressure until the Muslims abandon
Islam, either by renouncing it as many people with Muslim names are nowadays doing or by
abandoning its practice, as the majority of Muslims nowadays have done.

100
O Believers! If you listen to a faction among the people of the Book, they
will turn you back as disbelievers after you have believed. 101 But how can you
disbelieve when the Words of Allaah are being recited to you, and His
Messenger is in your midst? Whoever holds fast to Allaah, he indeed is guided
to the straight path.

Holding fast to Allaah means sticking faithfully with the teachings of the Qur-aan regardless of
the intensity of attacks and enormity of the pressure from the friends and foes from non-
Muslims. Although disbelief in the teachings from Allaah is unfortunate for any human being,
it is inexcusably deplorable if a person disbelieves after he had the opportunity to understand
the teachings of the Qur-aan as a Muslim.

The next few verses give more details of what it means to hold fast to Allaah, how best to
defend against the dangers posed by the people of the Book and how to maintain excellence in
the Islamic society that Islam is designed to create. The first and foremost tool useful for that
purpose is Taqwa.

102
O Believers! Adopt so much Taqwa of Allaah as is His right, and do not die
except that you are Muslims.

As was described while discussing verse 2 and 177 of Al-Baqarah, Taqwa is the attitude and
approach of a Muslim towards all affairs of life that distinguishes him from a non-Muslim. It is
the result of the paradigm shift brought about by the continual awareness, remembrance and
consciousness of Allaah that the true faith in Allaah (Eeman) causes. It is characterized by the
following kind of consciousness, care, caution and avoidance:

Being conscious of our accountability to Allaah and being mindful that He is well
aware of all our actions, intentions, thoughts and behaviours.

Being careful and anxious to fulfil one’s duties to Allaah as His slaves.

Being cautious not to get involved in anything that may be disliked by Allaah.

Being particular about living in a way that will avoid disobedience, displeasure or
punishment of Allaah.

Having an attitude of Taqwa is the minimum standard of devotion expected of a Muslim. But
what is desired is to have it so strong as is in line with the majestic Lordship of Allaah SWT
and have it throughout one’s life so that whenever death happens to visit, it finds the person in
a state of Taqwa and full submission of Allaah SWT. It is this kind of Taqwa that helps a
sincere Muslim withstand all the pressures of the enemies of Islam and persevere in the face of
all challenges and difficulties that come in the way.

Commanding Taqwa and advising people to die only as Muslims indicates that without Taqwa
a person is not considered a Muslim by Allaah SWT.

The second tool is the total commitment and unswerving dedication to the Deen of Allaah and
its objectives. The verse uses the word ‘rope’ which people started using to indicate
relationship, and then it progressed to indicate treaties and covenants that establish strong
relationships. To interpret its use in this verse, different commentators have called it ‘the
covenant’, ‘the Qur-aan’ or ‘Deen and its objectives’. Although they appear to be different
interpretations, in reality all three are presenting the same message: A Muslim establishes his
relationship with Allaah SWT by declaring Shahaadah which is in fact a covenant promising to
live according the Deen and to achieve its objectives in t the way the Deen and its objectives
are described in the Qur-aan.

Deen is like a constitution that describes the paradigm, the principle, the outlook and the
approach that sets the attitude, the goals, the direction and destination of people. The Deen of
Islam is an Allaah-centred paradigm based on the belief in Allaah SWT as the only one and
unique Creator, Lord and Master who must be obeyed, submitted and surrendered to in every
aspect of one’s life throughout one’s life. It consists of:

A rock solid faith in Allaah, His messengers, books, angels and the Hereafter, as
described in the Qur-aan, that makes the believer remember Allaah throughout his
days and nights (Dzikr) and imbues him with Taqwa, Ikhlaas, Tawakkul and makes
him strive to attain excellence (Ihsaan) in these attributes;

Speaking truth, being true to one’s word, fulfilling promises and being trustworthy;

All believers being organized in the form of one Jamaa’ah like a regimented army
under the leadership of one Ameer;

Salaah, Zakaah, Sowm and Hajj ;

Living life by the Islamic values of ‘Adl (Fairness, justice, balance, equity), Ihsaan
(Excellence in servitude to Allaah, benevolence towards people, graciousness in
dealings) and being charitable; while avoiding Fahshaa (Lewdness, indecency,
licentiousness, immorality whether in dress, appearance or conduct), Munkar (Bad
actions, undesirable activities, unacceptable behaviour) and Baghy (Rebellion,
transgressing limits, exploiting or violating others’ rights, abuse of authority or
freedom);

Promoting truth, rights and justice and striving with one’s time, life, abilities,
resources and wealth to establish Islam and its aforementioned values (Jihaad); and,

Promoting perseverance, constancy, consistency and steadfastness in all of the
abovementioned endeavours.
The follower of the Deen of Islam is a Muslim who loves Allaah more than anything else in his
life so that his life revolves around seeking the pleasure of Allaah by practising the Deen just
mentioned.

The objectives of living by the abovementioned Deen, as discussed several times previously,
are that individually a Muslim must strive to attain purification (Tazkiyah) and excellence in
everything he does including his thoughts, morals, dealings and all sorts of conduct; and
collectively the Muslims must strive to make the Deen of Allaah the dominant lifestyle and
system on the globe through establishing an Islamic state that leads the world in excellence of
peace and justice in a loving and caring society.

This is the rope of Allaah that Muslims must cling to as commanded in the next verse.
103
Hold fast the rope of Allaah all together and do not be disunited. Remember
Allaah’s favour on you when you were enemies, then He joined your hearts so
you became brothers because of His favour; and you were on the brink of a pit
of fire, then He saved you from it. Thus does Allaah make His Signs clear to
you so that you may be guided.

As long as Muslims are strongly committed and dedicated to the Deen and its objective, it
promotes unity and strength. They had just seen how this focus on Deen saved their society
from the brink of disaster so that the warring enemies became loving brothers to each other and
they created such an exemplary society of excellence that had never been witnessed before and
has never been seen since.

This beauty of Islam has been experienced by all ummahs of the past as well because they
were also taught the same Deen. But this benefit is conditional. It accrues only when people do
not dispute in the matters of Deen.

As it is clear from the command in this verse, no difference of opinion is allowed in the above-
mentioned matters of deen. Any one who deviates from these matters is considered out of
Islam in Allaah’s books. To implement these provisions of Deen, however, many rules and
regulations are devised which are usually called “Fiqh”. There can be variations and
differences of opinions in matters of Fiqh, however, those differences of opinions are allowed
and are all considered valid. They are not differences in Deen. For example, establishing
Salaah is a matter of Deen no one can be Muslim if he disputes about the need or responsibility
of establishing salaah, but people can have differences of opinion in the Fiqh of performing
salaah. Not understanding this difference causes many misunderstandings, so it should be
clearly understood that Fiqh should not be confused with Deen.

Thus, when the prophets come and make people concentrate on the matters of Deen, and
deemphasize the rules of Fiqh, the ummah gets united and people see the benefits of a united
ummah working together for the objectives of Deen with their practices focused on the matters
of Deen. But after the departure of their prophets, the subsequent generations of believers lose
this focus on Deen and its objectives. Their focus becomes the rules and regulations formulated
under the provisions of Deen. Those rules take so much importance that the Deen and its
objective are relegated to the back stage or completely forgotten. That unbalanced emphasis on
rules creates infighting, sectarian violence and parochial groups instead of a united ummah.

Allaah SWT has explained to us clearly the need to focus on the Deen and become united; it is
now up to us that we heed and reform or continue our slide downwards into the pit of fire.
104
And there should be a community among you who invites everyone to do
good, enjoins proper conduct and forbids indecent behaviour. Such are they
who are successful.

The third tool prescribed here is that there always must be a section of the Muslim ummah
whose sole responsibility is to initiate continuous renewal and revival of the proper spirit of
Deen in the society and to help people refocus on its objectives so that the objectives are not
ignored and the ummah does not split on the basis of different schools of Fiqh and does not get
carried away by hair splitting details of Fiqh as had happened to the Jews.

This verse does not merely talk about an invitation to the Islamic objectives of excellence.
Invitation can easily be done by preachers in the community. But, in addition to preaching, it
also talks about enjoining and forbidding that can be done only by those in authority. That is
why many commentators have concluded that this verse indicates that it is mandatory for
Muslims to have Khilaafah to perform this function, and that is why, they imply, that Muslims
rushed to elect a Khaleefah after the death of the Prophet.

If Muslims follow these commands with commitment and dedication they will be able to
achieve both the individual and collective objectives of the Deen and become successful.

After clearly explaining the three main tools that the Muslims should use to protect themselves
from the threats to their faith, they have once again been warned not to repeat the mistakes
committed by earlier ummahs; like the Jews who lost focus on Deen and its objectives and split
up in sects on the basis of exaggerated and hair-splitting rules of Fiqh or like Christians who
got rid of even the Deen itself while pursuing only a few misguided beliefs and rituals and on
the basis of which they disputed and created different denominations.

105
Do not be like those who split up and disputed after receiving clear
teachings. For them there is a grave punishment. 106 On the day when some
faces will turn bright and some faces will turn dark. Those whose faces are
darkened will be addressed, “Did you disbelieve after your believing? Taste,
therefore, the punishment because you disbelieved.” 107 As for those whose
faces are brightened, they will live forever in Allaah’s mercy.

These verses clearly indicate that shifting the focus from Deen and its objectives to the matters
that cause disputes and the splitting of the community is tantamount to turning back from faith
in Islam to the disbelief, which calls for a severe punishment from Allaah.

Now it is up to Muslims to decide if they want to have their faces brightened with success or
darkened with disappointment and loss. Allaah SWT has very kindly explained everything
clearly because He does not want people to feel that they have been treated unfairly having not
been warned.

108
These are the Words of Allaah that We recite to you in truth because Allaah
does not want any injustice to people of the world. 109 Allaah owns whatever is
in the heavens and whatever is in the earth and all matters are brought back to
Allaah for decisions.

As the decisions will all rest with Allaah SWT who is explaining these things in truth, Muslims
should clearly understand that His judgment will be according to the criteria mentioned herein
and that they will have no excuse and no other way out.

As discussed earlier, before Muslims, Banee Israel were charged with the responsibility of
leading the world in attaining Islamic excellence in all human dealings and deliberations. They
were supposed to strive for it themselves and to motivate others to seek the same. That was to
be done by inviting people towards this excellence, enjoining goodness and forbidding bad
behaviour. As they had failed to play this role, despite repeated reminders by the messengers
and prophets, they were fired. It was then given to the Muslims, along with the status of being
the chosen ones that comes with this responsibility. The removal of the Jews and the
appointment of the Muslims was announced through verse 143 of Soorah Al-Baqarah. The
next verse recapitulates this appointment, indicating the attributes that make the Muslims
deserve it: Dedication to human excellence desired by Islam as evidenced by their use of all
their power and authority to enjoin good conduct while hindering evil, and thus, providing the
right environment to develop and sustain a quest for this excellence; but doing all this only and
purely for the pleasure of Allaah.
110
You are the best community brought forward for the guidance of people,
enjoining proper conduct, forbidding indecent behaviour and believing in
Allaah. Had the people of the Book, the Jews, believed it would have been
better for them; some of them have become believers, but most of them are
disobedient.
Being chosen is a performance-based title given only to those who have the aforementioned
attributes and who dedicate themselves to the Islamic objectives of excellence in the society.
This signifies that if and when Muslims lose the attributes mentioned in this verse, they will
not remain fit for the job and they will be cursed and punished as the Jews were.

Ideally, the Jews should have jumped on the opportunity to become Muslim, develop the
attributes desired and retain their status as the chosen ones. Unfortunately, most of them,
except for a minority, chose to disobey Allaah obdurately and oppose the Islamic mission of
peace, justice and excellence. Instead of joining the mission, correcting their attitude and
reforming their behaviour, which would have been to their benefit in this world and in the
hereafter, they chose to oppose it.

Muslims were then told not to worry about the opposition of the Jews, because although their
animosity would cause a big annoyance, it would fail in derailing the mission. The only way
the Islamic mission could have been stopped was by killing the Prophet and the sincere
Muslims in a war of aggression. For that purpose, they would plot against the Islamic mission
behind the scenes, they would instigate enemies of Islamic peace, justice and excellence, and
they would help anti-Islamic forces in their war of aggression, but they would have no courage
to fight on their own and take casualties.

111
They cannot harm you except causing annoyance; and if they fight against
you, they shall turn their backs to flee; then they will not be helped.

We all know that Allaah SWT has promulgated natural laws for the universe according to
which everything in the universe is functioning. In the same way, He has also promulgated
natural laws according to which every good or bad human action has its own consequences in
this world, in addition to the rewards and punishments of the hereafter. According to those
laws, ignominy, disgrace, servility and subjugation is faced by any community that claims to
believe in Allaah but continues to display the kind of disobedient, obdurate behaviour as the
Jews were displaying at that time. These consequences indicate that Allaah has become angry
with those people and, thus, they have lost help or support from Allaah, much less being His
chosen ones. The next verse describes those consequences for the Jews.

112
Ignominy has been plastered over them wherever they are found, except
being propped up here or there under a covenant with Allaah or a covenant
with people. They ended up incurring Allaah’s wrath, with servility being
inflicted upon them. This is because they disbelieved in the signs of Allaah and
killed the prophets unjustly, which was because they habitually disobeyed the
commands and routinely transgressed the limits.

Nowadays, some people may wonder if this law of ignominy still applies to the Jews. The
question arises because the Jews seem to have much power, influence and status - so much so
that the Zionists of Israel can get away with terrorism and all sorts of crimes against the
Palestinian indigenous population. No one even dares to point out or mention their crimes for
fear of being labelled anti-Semitic and being black-listed. But the reality is that it is a borrowed
power. They do not have their own sustainable power. Instead, their power is based only on the
support from the American and European governments, similar to the past when Muslims were
in power and had provided the Jews with security and protection. This is what the Qur-aan
refers to as being propped up by a covenant with Allaah or a covenant with people.

Another point to remember in this respect is that it is the Muslims now who have attracted
Allaah’s anger and thus are suffering from ignominy, disgrace, servility and subjugation for
committing the same sins that the Jews were committing at the time of the Prophet. Hence, the
Muslims are now comparatively in the worst situation, neither having Allaah’s support nor the
support of any worldly superpower. The reality of where everyone stands will become clear
only when Muslims as an ummah re-attain their excellence and become the champion of the
duties given to them in this respect.

The verse does give, in a concise form, the reason for Allaah’s anger and the consequences that
are faced by a presumably ‘favourite’ or ‘chosen community’. The Muslims must pay special
attention to these matters because, as was just mentioned, they are currently facing exactly the
same situation for exactly the same reasons.

Here is what happens: People who claim to be believers completely ignore and forget the
objectives of excellence, peace and justice for which Islam was prescribed. They abandon
living the whole life according to the Deen of Islam. Rather, they perform merely the ritual
practices while following other Deens (ideologies or paradigms of life) in the other aspects of
their life. While living this kind of life, they presume that they are believers and they are
practising their religion; but Allaah SWT considers it disobedience and transgression, rejecting
even their ritual acts of worship. The so-called believers think that they are balancing religious
and secular aspects of their lives (Deen vs. Dunya); but Allaah regards it transgressing the
limits allowed to them. Then, when the reformers are raised in their society to warn them and
bring them back to the true, pure and whole Islam, the majority of these so-called believers
reject those reformers and oppose them. When the reformers present them the teachings of
Islam (Signs of Allaah, verses of the revealed Book) to explain the essence of Islam and its
objectives of excellence, they disbelieve in them insolently and continue obdurately in their
version of ‘practice’ of Islam. The more this condition continues, the angrier Allaah SWT
becomes with such people. This can be shown as follows:

Rejection of Signs of
Allaah or the
complete message
Only partial or ritual of the Book Anger of Allaah
practice of Islam, for the whole Deen.
=
ignoring objectives of Ignominy,
Deen = Disobedience Rejection and abuse servility,
and transgression of the prophets disgrace, subjugation
or reformers.

However, every community has good and bad people. No community is 100% one way or the
other. Allaah SWT, very kindly, always recognizes the good souls in a society and appreciates
the goodness of their hearts. There were good people among the Jews too. They were those
who said yes to the truth of Islam, became Muslim and joined the Prophet in his mission of
establishing Islamic peace, justice and excellence. Some joined early, some joined afterwards,
but all the good-hearted people saw the light and joined the Islamic movement.

113
However, they all are not alike. A faction from the People of the Book
stands by their covenant. They recite Allaah’s signs at night and prostrate. 114
They believe in Allaah and the Last Day, enjoin what is right, forbid what is
wrong and race with one another in hastening to good deeds. Those are among
the righteous. 115 Whatever good they do, they shall not be denied its rewards.
Allaah knows people with Taqwa.
The best indicator of a person’s being good-hearted is a person’s strong relationship with
Allaah demonstrated by that person’s praying with long recitation of the Book and prostrations
at night, full of humility, when no one is watching. This then shows in the lifestyle of those
good-hearted people because of their hastening towards the good deeds, their dedication to the
objective of the Deen in terms of developing self excellence as well as excellence, peace and
justice in the society.

The situation described in these verses is, once again, seen happening currently in the Muslim
community. When a reformer starts his mission, some good-hearted people join his mission.
The majority rejects him. Unless and until a majority of the Muslim ummah joins the Islamic
movement to establish the whole Deen and to achieve the objectives of Deen, our ummah is
not going to come out of its current sad state of affairs.

The good-hearted Jews who became Muslim have been given the good news that their earlier
good actions will also be fully rewarded. Thus, those believers who choose to join the
contemporary Islamic movement for the establishment of the whole Deen and for the
achievement of the objectives of the Deen are being informed that all the good deeds they do
before becoming Muslim or during the earlier phase of their partial practice of Islam are fully
appreciated and rewarded. This also alludes that those who do not adopt Islam as a complete
way of life will not be rewarded for their mere ritual practices. This point is then emphasized in
the next two verses.

116
As for those who disbelieve, neither their wealth nor their children shall
avail them in the least against Allaah; they are the inmates of the fire, dwelling
therein forever. 117 What they spend in the life of this world may be likened to
frosty wind that strikes and destroys the crop of a people who have wronged
themselves. Allaah wronged them not, but they do wrong to themselves.

The majority of the people who do not dedicate themselves to the mission of establishing Islam
fully in the society and striving for the achievement of the Islamic objectives of excellence
ignore these obligations usually because of their preoccupation with their business, career and
family in this temporary life. That was true for the Jews who opted to go against the mission of
the Prophet and that is true for those who claim to be Muslims but oppose Islamic movements.
They are being warned that none of these things are going to be useful in the eternal life
hereafter and they are going to end up in the Fire. Even the charitable projects they undertake
from the wealth they accumulate will have no value. This part time and partial religiosity in the
form of charity or practice of rituals is still regarded as disbelief by Allaah. Without making
the whole Deen and its objectives the focus of one’s life for the pleasure of Allaah and without
making the whole life Allaah-centred, they will not be considered true Muslims and any good
deeds they do will be considered null and void in the hereafter. It is just like having a green
crop destroyed by a frosty wind. In this allegory, the good deed or charity is the crop, the wind
is the charitable attitude and the frost is the lack of faith in Allaah and lack of purity of
intention for His pleasure.

Letting their acts of charity have no benefit in the hereafter is not an injustice at all. Such
people get enough recognition of their acts in this world, which is a fair reward of what they
do. The reward of the hereafter will not be there because neither was that the consideration for
their act nor was that the focus of their endeavours. If there is anything wrong in this situation,
it is their own act of depriving themselves of Allaah’s mercy by not making their actions
Allaah-centred. It is they who are being unfair and unjust that they live in Allaah’s land, using
life and body bestowed by Him, utilizing resources provided by Him, benefiting from the
useful laws of nature promulgated by Him, but then instead of doing things according to His
pleasure, they do them the way they themselves want.

Considering their animosity and their efforts to hurt the Islamic mission, the Muslims should
be very cautious and vigilant in dealing with such people. But many simple-minded Muslims
do not understand the depth of their rancour against the Islamic mission and their hatred
towards Islamic ideals. They consider them harmless, sincere friends and deal with them as
such. In reality, they are out there trying to create a situation to entrap them. They play games
with them, posing as their well-wishers and inciting them to say something that is not proper or
to do something that a Muslim should not do. But once it is said or done, they use it to give a
bad name to Islam. It becomes headline news for days. By the time the simple-minded Muslim
realizes how he or she has been duped, manipulated and betrayed, it is too late. The damage to
Islam is already done. We see it happen every so often today. The same was happening at the
time of the revelation of these verses. The people of Madeenah had close relations with the
Jews before Islam. After the majority of them had opted for Islam, while the majority of the
Jews had opted for opposition to Islam, as described in the previous verses, the Muslims
continued to consider those Jews their friends as usual. This gave the Jews chances to
manipulate them for their animosity to Islam. Hence, the Muslims are being warned:
118
O believers, do not take people other than your own as intimate confidants,
because they would spare no pains to ruin you. They love what distresses you.
Rank hatred has already appeared from their mouths, but what their breasts
harbour is far worse. We have detailed the Signs clearly to you, if you have
wisdom. 119 Here you are loving them, while they do not love you, though you
believe in the whole Book. What they do is that when they meet you, they
pretend that they are believers; but when they are alone among themselves,
they bite their fingers in rage against you. Say: “Die in your rage!” Allaah very
well knows what is in the hearts. 120 When something good happens to you, it
annoys them, while if an evil afflicts you, they delight in it. But if you
persevere and remain imbued in Taqwa, their plotting will not harm you in any
way. Certainly Allaah surrounds whatever they are doing.

Although they are full of animosity, hatred and intolerance, which is clear from their mean
attitude and their rancorous behaviour, they usually accuse Islam of intolerance and lack of
acceptance of them. What they conveniently forget while spreading this false propaganda is
that Islam is the only religion that acknowledges the truth of the previous prophets and the
guidance of Allaah revealed to them. It goes even further and makes it a requirement for a
Muslim to believe in them. Muslims have been told that what was revealed to those prophets
was the part of the same Book which is now revealed completely in the form of the Qur-aan.
Thus, it is not Muslims who are intolerant, as they do believe in previous revelations. The
intolerant are those who refuse to accept the Qur-aan as being the word of Allaah. It is not
Muslims who disrespect any of the previous prophets or messengers; it is the others who
deliberately and calculatingly attack the Messenger of Islam.

While talking about their rancour and rage against Islam, the flow has been interrupted to tell
them “die in your rage” and then continues to complete the description of their evil mindset.

The most important lesson to be learnt from these verses is that if Muslims imbue themselves
with Taqwa and practice Sabr, Allaah SWT will not let these enemies succeed in their
objectives. It should be remembered that Taqwa, as has been frequently explained previously,
is a wholesome attitude of continuous remembrance of Allaah and consciousness of His
presence so that one’s whole life becomes Allaah-centred wherein everything is done only for
His pleasure or avoiding His displeasure. It should never be considered simply a matter of
compliance with some rules and a certain form of physical appearance, as some people
consider it to be. A person who has Taqwa will never become intimate with an enemy of Islam,
regardless of the circumstances. It should also be remembered that Sabr is steadfastly striving
hard to establish the whole Islam and to achieve its objective of peace, justice and excellence
through its domination as the world order. It is the perseverance in making all required
sacrifices for the establishment of the whole Deen and attainments of its objectives, without
worrying about the results of the efforts or the consequences of being steadfast. If Muslims do
not carry out the Islamic mission with Taqwa and Sabr, then Allaah is not going to help them,
and their enemies are going to succeed.

This concludes the address to the Muslims about dealing with the animosity, hatred and
rancour displayed by the Jews against the Islamic mission.
The concluding comment of the previous discourse was “But if you persevere and remain
imbued in Taqwa, their108 plotting will not harm you in any way. Certainly Allaah surrounds
whatever they are doing.” This leads into the commentary on the battle of Uhad that was
instigated in part by the Jews, wherein Muslims suffered heavy losses because of the
deficiencies in perseverance (Sabr) and Taqwa in a part of the Muslim community. Although
there is always room for improvement in human endeavours, the need for such improvements
was quite natural among Muslims at that time considering that the formation of the Muslim
community had taken place hardly three years ago and most of the Muslims had freshly joined
the ummah109. Even in that short period, the improvements that they had already achieved were
so remarkable that such rapid pace of positive, lasting improvements has never been witnessed
in any other movement.

In this discourse, starting from here towards the end of the Soorah, Allaah SWT has taken, one
by one, all the issues or concerns that arose regarding the incidents of the battle and then
commented on them in a concise form to impart guidance and teach lessons. This indicated to
the Muslims what improvements they needed to make in order to enhance their Taqwa and
perseverance (Sabr).

To understand those issues and lessons, one needs to have a general understanding of what
transpired in those days.

Just a little over a year after the battle of Badr, once again, the pagans of Makkah invaded
Madeenah with a 3000 strong well-equipped army to avenge their previous loss. When the
news of the approaching army arrived in Madeenah, the Prophet consulted the Muslims to plan
their strategy of defence. Some suggested fortifying within the city to defend against the
invasion. Others suggested confronting the enemy out of the city in a battlefield. The Prophet
accepted the majority opinion of going out of the city to confront the invasion and asked all
able-bodied Muslims to get ready to march out.

One thousand volunteers ventured out with the Prophet to confront the invading army of 3000.
Most of the 1000 volunteers were the sincere Muslims who were ready to sacrifice everything
for their Deen; but also included in them were hypocrites who were not sincere enough to the
faith to endanger their lives for it. Because of their claim to be Muslims, they felt obliged to
come out but were looking for some excuse to avoid the dangers of battle. Their leader,
Abdullah Ibn Ubayy, created an excuse by protesting that other people’s opinion had been
preferred over his opinion of staying in the city, while his opinion should have been given
more weight because of his maturity, experience and respectable position in the society. Thus
he left the army with 300 people who were hypocrites like him and, hence, under his influence.
This was a very dangerous move on his part. Had these hypocrites not joined the army to start
with, it would not have had as much of an impact. But about one third of the army deserting
while marching to face an invading enemy had a very demoralizing impact on the remaining
troops, especially the recent converts. The volunteers from two clans of Madeenah, Banu
Haarithah of Ows and Banu Salmah of Khazraj, were so disheartened that they also wanted to

108
Plotting by the Jews
109
At the time of battle of Badr, the Muslims could only muster to assemble only 313 males to defend
against the attack on Madeenah. At the time of battle of Uhad, there were 700 Muslims fighters after the
hypocrites had deserted. Thus more than 50% of the Muslims had joined the ummah within a year.
go back to the town. But the senior companions of the Prophet succeeded in addressing their
anxiety, convincing them to fulfil their obligations to their faith and staying with the army. The
Prophet told his army that in place of the 300 hypocrites that had left, Allaah SWT may
reinforce Muslims by sending down 3000 angels to help. Allaah SWT Himself ratified the
Prophet’s comment and increased the aid to 5000 specially designated angels, if the Muslims
persevered and remained imbued in Taqwa.

The Prophet proceeded ahead with 700 men and stationed them at the foot of mount Uhad,
about four miles out of the city, so that Uhad was protecting them from the back and sides and
the Makkan army could attack only from the front. However, there was a mountain pass on the
left that could be used for a surprise attack from the side. He appointed a platoon of 50 archers
on that pass and instructed them that they must not let anyone pass through there at any cost.
He told them, “Defend our backs! If you see us being killed do not come to help us; and if you
see us getting the booty of the war, do not participate with us.” And, “If you see birds picking
our flesh, do not vacate this position until I send you a message to do so; and if you see we
have defeated the enemy and are stomping on them, do not vacate this position until I send you
a message to do so.”

The battle started and after a fierce fight, Quraish began to retreat. But instead of chasing the
enemy to ensure complete victory, many Muslims started collecting the booty of the war.
When the archers that were appointed to guard the pass saw the Muslims collecting booty,
most of them mistakenly assumed that the war was over, left their positions despite the strict
instructions, and joined others in collecting the booty. Their commander tried to stop them but
they would not listen. They figured if they did not participate in collecting the booty, they
might not get a share in it. This was a dangerous mistake.

The commander and about a dozen archers stayed at the post. Khaalid bin Waleed, a cavalry
commander of the fleeing army of Quraish, noticed the opening of the pass, led his cavalry unit
to come from behind the mountain, though the pass, overran the few archers and their
commander who were still guarding the pass, and attacked the Muslims from behind while
they were all scattered around and disorganized. Seeing the precarious position of Muslims, the
rest of Quraish’s army reverted to the aggressive attack. The attack from Quraish was so
devastating that Muslims could not regroup. They started retreating and some of them ran
away. A few brave Muslims were still fighting here and there when it was rumoured that the
Prophet had been martyred. This disheartened even some of those who were still fighting
bravely. The Prophet, who had at that time only about nine persons with him, called upon the
believers to regroup in their ranks and take a stand with him. The Prophet knew that his voice
would give away his position to the enemy, as it would be heard by the enemy before it
reached the believers who were disarrayed, confused and scattered far and wide. But the
Prophet would not be deterred by any danger.

The Quraish put all their force on the spot where the Prophet was fighting. They encircled him
completely so none of his companions could reach him. A few who were left with the Prophet
surrounded him to protect him. The Prophet continued arching until his bow was broken. All
companions who were fighting around him were martyred except two, Talha bin U’baidullah
and Saa’d bin Abi Waqqaas. Saa’d was arching at the enemies while Talha was shielding the
Holy Prophet and fighting with the attackers at the same time. He suffered a lot of wounds in
this struggle. He interrupted an attack of a sword aimed the Holy Prophet with his bare hand
and got his fingers cut. The Prophet was wounded on his forehead, lower lip and cheek. Two
rings of his helmet had pierced deep into his cheekbone. He also took a hit of a sword on his
shoulder that was protected by armour but was still severely hurt. He also lost a tooth when hit
with a stone. The Prophet exclaimed, “How can the people who injure their prophet’s face
attain salvation.” But immediately following this comment, he prayed, “My Lord! Forgive my
people because they do not know (or realize the grievousness of what they are doing).” Some
more companions had gathered around the Prophet in the meantime, shielded him with their
bodies and started repulsing the attacking idolaters.

Finally, the scattered Muslims who had found out that the Prophet was alive started getting
back into some semblance of an order, and the Prophet led them into an orderly retreat back to
the mountain cover. Quraish launched a fresh offensive that was also repulsed. Then, Quraish
gave up and started to leave the battlefield. It was the help from Allaah that they lost patience
and courage to withstand the regrouped Muslim army, or otherwise they could have routed the
Muslims completely.

When the Quraish were leaving, there was a danger that they might go to the city of Madeenah
and destroy and plunder the city and kill or enslave Muslim women and children. Hence the
Prophet sent a person to watch if they have mounted on horses or camels. Mounting on horses
meant that they were going a small distance, which meant to attack the city. In that case,
Muslim would have rushed to fight them to defend the city. When they were seen mounting on
camels, it meant that they were heading for Makkah and the Muslims had time to bury the dead
and take care of wounded.

Muslims suffered a big loss this time with 70 martyrs and 40 injured. Quraish had
dismembered the noses, ears, etc. of some of the Muslims corpses. Necklaces and anklets were
made with the noses and ears of the martyred and dying believers by a woman called Hind bin
‘Utbah. This wicked woman was posing as a man and inciting Quraish’s army to fight harder.
A Muslim warrior was just about to kill her when she shrieked. Then the Muslim realized that
she was a woman and spared her because the Muslims were commanded to spare women and
children even in war.

As Quraish had left without a decisive victory, it was probable that they could have had second
thoughts and come back to make their victory more decisive. Considering this possibility,
despite his injuries, the next morning the Prophet called upon all the participants in the battle to
accompany him to chase Quraish. He, accompanied by 630 followers including the injured
companions, went for a distance of eight miles on the route to Makkah to confront the Quraish
in case they came back and re-attacked. They camped at a place called Hamraa-ul Asad. The
Prophet was right. After going some distance, Quraish had decided to return and attack
Madeenah again. But when they heard that Prophet was chasing them, they decided to go
away.

The next nine verses introduce the topic with the concise description of the events of that
morning among the Muslims themselves before the battle started. The address is to the Prophet
and the comments are for the guidance of sincere believers, so the actions of the hypocrites
have been ignored, being irrelevant at this point. Later on, comments have been made on their
behaviour as well. Because the incidents were fresh in the minds of the people, their mention
did not need any introduction.
121
Remember that morning, when you left your home and were assigning to
the believers their battle positions; and Allaah is Hearing, Knowing. 122 When
two parties from among you had intended to show cowardice, while Allaah
was the protector of them both, and on Allaah should the believers rely. 123
And Allaah did certainly help you at Badr when you were quite weak. So
develop Taqwa of Allaah in order that you may be grateful. 124 When you said
to the believers, “Does it not suffice you that your Lord should reinforce you
with three thousand of the angels sent down for this purpose?” 125 Of course if
you practice Sabr and maintain Taqwa, and they (the enemy) come at you
suddenly just like this, your Lord will reinforce you with five thousand of the
marked angels. 126 Allaah disclosed it merely to make it good news and to
reassure your hearts with it. Help and victory comes only from Allaah, the
Mighty, the Wise. 127 Allaah ordained this help or victory: to cut down a flank
from those who disbelieve; or to overwhelm them with disgrace so that they
return frustrated in their purpose; 128 -- You (O Messenger), however, have no
part in the decision-making – or to turn to them mercifully; or to punish them
because they indeed are wrong-doers. 129 And Allaah's is whatever is in the
heavens and whatever is in the earth; He forgives whom He pleases and
punishes whom He pleases; and Allaah is Forgiving, Merciful.

Reference to Allaah’s attributes of hearing and knowing in the very first verse underscores the
fact that the words and thoughts ascribed to people in this commentary are based on Allaah’s
own knowledge; hence indisputable.

Notice that Allaah’s help is conditional upon practising Sabr and maintaining Taqwa. Both of
these terms were explained under the previous discourse.

Allaah SWT has informed us of four purposes for which He helps the believers in their
struggles against disbelievers:
1. To cut down a flank from those who disbelieve -- to deplete the human and material
resources of the disbelievers so that their power and activities against the Islamic
movement are weakened or reduced.
2. To overwhelm them with disgrace so that they return frustrated in their purpose – to
disgrace them with the failure of their aggression and plans against the Islamic
movement.
3. To turn to them mercifully – to accept the repentance of those who learn the lesson
from their defeat, discover the truth of Islam and join the Islamic movement.
4. To punish them because they indeed are wrong-doers – to punish those who insist on
their wrong-doings. Their wrong-doings are the crimes against humanity they commit,
the terrorism they inflict in their efforts to crush the Islamic movement, their lies and
false propaganda against Muslims, and destruction of the peace of the world because
of the wars they wage against Islam.
While describing these purposes, Allaah SWT made two very important points as parenthetical
comments:

Victory comes only from Allaah SWT.

Which and how much of the four purposes are achieved is also purely up to Allaah
SWT. Even the Prophet has no say in whose repentance will be accepted and who will
be punished because of their wrong-doings.

The essence of these points is that the believers must obediently follow the commands and do
the jobs assigned to them with their utmost capabilities and with Sabr and Taqwa, without
thinking of what would be or should be the results. It is wholly, solely and exclusively in the
hands of Allaah SWT to do whatever he wants to do with the disbelievers. It is not up to the
Muslims or even to the Prophet to decide when, how and what kind of consequences will be
faced by the disbelievers. Their fate is decided by Allaah according to His ultimate knowledge
and scheme of things, not by the wishes of the believers or the Prophet. Thus, if Allaah lets
them succeed at any occasion, no one has right to question it or complain about it. Allaah
knows what He is doing and the believers must understand it right at the outset of the
commentary.

As the believers themselves are concerned, Allaah SWT did help them. They suffered only
when they acted against the principles of Sabr and Taqwa. Deviation from those principles on
their part indicated that their paradigm shift from the Jahiliyyah110 approach to the Islamic
approach towards life has not occurred properly and completely.

The difference between the two paradigms and lifestyles was described when discussing verse
14 and 15 of this Soorah. The Jahiliyyah paradigm of life, which is the same as the Western
paradigm of life, is to live a lifestyle of maximizing worldly possessions and pleasures,
consuming as much as possible, quick gratification of worldly desires and multiplying and
accumulating wealth, fame, power, status, medals, etc. Living life with this paradigm takes a
person to Fire regardless of the presumed religion of the person. The Islamic paradigm of life,
on the other hand, is living to maximize the pleasure of Allaah and avoiding His displeasure, a
lifestyle of restraint and restriction on fulfilling desires, spending in the way of Allaah instead
of accumulating or multiplying the wealth, maximizing personal excellence while consuming
only as much as is absolutely necessary, and focusing on the eternal life of the hereafter instead
of this temporary world. This is called Paradigm of Taqwa. Living life with this attitude takes a
person to the eternal bounties of the huge and expansive Jannah111.

A Muslim who has understood and adopted the Islamic paradigm completely will not give
importance to the booty of war over respecting his commander’s instructions. To avoid future
repetition of what had happened, the paradigm needed to be set aright.

110
Un-Islamic
111
Paradise
To wean people from the paradigm of maximizing wealth and consumption, they were asked to
stay away from Ribaa112. Conveying this message through prohibition of Ribaa was very
appropriate for two reasons:

Firstly, Ribaa perpetuates, reinforces and strengthens the desire and attitude of
maximizing wealth. When people see growth in their money, their greed becomes
stronger. Thus, Ribaa must be rooted out and spending in the way of Allaah
emphasized to change the mentality of maximizing wealth. On the consumer side,
Ribaa encourages people towards maximizing instant gratification instead of restraint.
Many people end up buying things on credit that they cannot really afford. Here,
Ribaa needs to be rooted out to help people restrain themselves instead of getting into
tough financial situations as a result of impulsive buying on credit. In either case,
Ribaa develops the traits that are against Taqwa.

Secondly, with one concise command, the paradigm shift as well as the reform of the
economic system was accelerated.

To help the believers maximize the pleasure of Allaah and attainment of unlimited and eternal
bounties of Jannah, tips on attaining personal excellence were given.

130
O believers! Do not devour Ribaa, doubling and multiplying, but maintain
Taqwa of Allaah so that you may be successful. 131 And save yourselves from
the fire that has been prepared for disbelievers. 132 And obey Allaah and the
Messenger, that you may obtain mercy. 133 And hasten to forgiveness from
your Lord; and a Garden as broad as the heavens and the earth, prepared for
those who maintain Taqwa. 134 Those who spend benevolently both in
prosperity and in adversity, who repress their anger and who forgive people;
and Allaah loves those who practice excellence. 135 And those who, when they
commit an indecency or wrong themselves by sinning, at once remember
Allaah, implore forgiveness for their sins – and who forgives sins except
Allaah? – and do not knowingly persist in what they have done. 136 For such
the reward is forgiveness from their Lord, and gardens beneath which rivers
flow, to abide in them forever – how excellent a recompense for good workers.
It should be noted that the qualifier ‘doubling and multiplying’ is not a condition that describes
which kind of Ribaa is disallowed. Ribaa and its applicability have been discussed in detail in
Soorah Al-Baqarah. Here this qualifier is describing the mentality and motive for the growth of
wealth and its multiplication that is behind the charging of interest. This is highlighted to
contrast it to the attitude of Taqwa that makes a believer rush towards and compete to win in
attaining the pleasure and forgiveness of Allaah SWT and the admittance into the Jannah. It

112
Ribaa is the Islamic term for any interest charged on loans regardless of its rate, low or high, or its
type, simple or compound. Most people translate it as usury, but in English, interest is called usury only if
it is excessive. Thus, usury is not a suitable word for Ribaa.
also contrasts the limited nature of worldly wealth -- regardless of how much interest is
compounded, there is a limit to it -- against the limitlessness of the bounties of the hereafter.

The exact nature of the vastness and expansiveness of Jannah that has been prepared for those
who maintain Taqwa cannot be understood by human beings. Allaah SWT has described it in
the closest possible example that a human being can comprehend. The idea is not to describe
its precise nature, but to give us an understandable concept that it is going to be limitlessly vast
and full of bounties that will be there eternally for those who restrain and restrict themselves
and make sacrifices in this temporary world – a world where whatever a person acquires and
accumulates is to be left behind anyway.

Another contrast should also be noted. Islam purports to develop a society where there is a
cohesive, sharing and caring environment; where people generously help each other, keep their
cool and forgive each other. Taqwa is the vehicle that helps Muslims build these qualities,
while Ribaa destroys that environment. Those who start charging Ribaa become very selfish
and greedy. It becomes difficult for them to help people in need because they find it difficult to
overcome the feeling of the loss for the amount of interest they will forego or the reduction in
their bank balance that will occur. On the other hand, those who have to pay interest develop
resentment, jealousy and hard feelings especially when they need help but cannot get it.

In efforts to develop excellence, merely controlling one’s anger or keeping one’s cool is not
enough. The offending people must be forgiven sincerely so that no ill feeling remains inside.

Another impediment in the way of developing the kind of generous and sharing personality
that Islam wants the Muslims to have is the human desire to maximize satisfaction of one’s
lusts and desires. Those who pay too much attention to their desires may not pay attention to
help others in need. In addition, people who do not restrain themselves may indulge in
something that Islam considers indecent or sinful. The attitude of Taqwa helps Muslims to
restrain themselves from chasing their desires and to make their life Allaah-centred.

It should always be remembered that human beings can never be perfect. No one should expect
perfection from any human being, even from a sincere Muslim with the highest level of
Taqwa. The excellence Allaah SWT expects from Muslims is a process of continuous
improvement – that each Muslim must continuously watch his or her behaviour and attitude
against the Islamic standards of excellence and continue to improve wherever some deficiency
is noted. This is a process that continues throughout one’s life. What distinguishes people with
Taqwa from others is that as soon as they slip, make a mistake or commit a sin, they remember
Allaah and sincerely seek His forgiveness with a firm intention of not repeating it knowingly
or deliberately. Those not well-grounded in Taqwa will try to justify their behaviour and
continue doing what they have been doing.

After addressing the need of Muslims to completely shift their paradigm from the
considerations of this world to the success of the hereafter and the pleasure of Allaah, the next
comment is on the ways (Sunan) in which Allaah SWT deals with different nations and groups.
A clear understanding of Allaah’s ways of dealing with people answered many questions that
were arising in people’s minds about the setback suffered at Uhad.
The struggle between the believers and the followers of Taaghoot is not a new one. It has been
going on since the first time the progeny of Adam fell prey to the traps of Shayŧaan, gradually
abandoning the Allaah-centred lifestyle and Islamic ways of justice and peace, and replacing it
with man made exploitive and ignorant systems of life (Jahiliyyah). Since then, the leadership
of the world has been alternating between the believers in Allaah and the followers of Shayŧaan
and Taaghoot. When the followers of Shayŧaan and Taaghoot come into power, the believers in
Allaah start an Islamic movement, struggle hard, make sacrifices and succeed in re-establishing
the Islamic system of justice and peace. Then, subsequent generations of believers relax, start
falling prey to the traps of Shayŧaan, gradually adopting ways of Jahiliyyah, abandoning
principles of Deen one by one until the system of Jahiliyyah or Taaghoot is once again
established in the world. However, one thing is certain. Whenever a group of believers
sincerely starts the Islamic movement to re-establish Islamic system of peace and justice,
Allaah SWT helps them, makes them eventually succeed and ensures that the deniers of
Allaah’s authority on earth are defeated. In the process, Muslims have to demonstrate
steadfastness, make sacrifices, take losses and prove that they are sincerely dedicated to the
pleasure of Allaah, not to worldly expediencies. Once they have proven with their sacrifices of
life and possession that they care only to seek the pleasure of Allaah for which they can take
any losses and still persevere, the deniers’ fate is sealed with defeat. This is the unchanging
rule of Allaah by which he deals with peoples of the world. These rules that Allaah uses to
grant success and failure to the nations of the earth are called Sunan of Allaah.

137
Indeed there have been examples113 before you; therefore, travel in the earth
and see what was the end of the deniers. 138 This is a clear warning for people
and guidance and instruction for those who have Taqwa. 139 So do not be timid
nor saddened; you shall prevail if you are believers. 140 If a wound has afflicted
you, a similar wound has also afflicted the other folk. These are the
vicissitudes We alternate among people so that Allaah may make evident those
who believe, take witnesses from you, – Allaah does not like the wrong-doers
– 141 purge the believers and destroy the disbelievers. 142 Have you assumed
that you will enter paradise while Allaah has not made evident those who strive
hard and those who persevere?

Some simple-minded Muslims tend to think that because they are standing up for truth and
believe in Allaah, their work should be easy, they should be able to get better results than the
quality of their efforts, the opposition to their mission should melt away, they should always
succeed and never encounter a setback despite the errors they make or weaknesses they
demonstrate. They must understand that:

There is no question that Allaah has ordained eventual defeat for those who refuse to
live by the guidance of Allaah, but that does not mean the Muslims can just claim to
be believers and victory will be at their feet. The change occurs only through a long,
natural but arduous struggle encountering many ups and downs along the way. The

113
The word used in the verse is Sunan, which is plural of Sunnah, referring to the Allaah’s rule of
causing deniers to fail and be defeated, which has repeatedly and consistently happened in the past.
 believers win sometimes and lose sometimes depending upon their Taqwa,
performance and perseverance.

Before granting them final victory, Allaah SWT ensures that all the believers at the
forefront of the mission are exclusively and sincerely working for the pleasure of
Allaah and success in the hereafter and their hearts are purified from the desires and
expediencies of this world. For that purpose they are tested, passed through many
hardships, and given chances to demonstrate their dedication to the pleasure of Allaah
by sacrificing their lives and possessions.

When they show weakness in faith, defect in paradigms, lack of discipline or

unbecoming behaviour, Allaah SWT may not shield them from the natural
consequences of their shortcoming, depending on the seriousness of the shortcoming,
and let them suffer setbacks and defeats. This serves to clean up their ranks from the
opportunists or those who have joined them only in the expectation of victory. These
setbacks also serve to purify the believers’ hearts in their focus on the pleasure of
Allaah, pure of any other considerations or expediencies and to increase in their
perseverance for the sake of Allaah. Thus by their sincerity and perseverance they
witness the truth of their faith to the rest of mankind. This also provides an
opportunity for some of them to reach the pinnacle of their struggle – martyrdom in
the way of Allaah.

These setbacks in no way mean that Allaah SWT has started liking the disbeliveers or
wrongdoers. Allaah does not like them at all.

Thus when a setback is encountered, the believers should never feel disheartened,
become weak in their resolves or lose their faith in the help of Allaah. Rather it should
be used as an opportunity to weed out any weakness in their intentions, resolve or
attitude so that everything becomes pure for Allaah and the hereafter. This purity and
exclusivity is real Towheed.

If they do adopt Towheed in that manner, they will always be the eventual victors.

If they are consistently failing to win over their enemies, they must re-examine
individually and collectively the strength of their faith in Allaah SWT, purity of their
intentions and the level of their dedication to the Islamic mission. A deteriorating
condition is indicative of a flaw in their adoption of Towheed.

Jannah is the reward for striving hard and persevering despite all the hardships and
setbacks while making all kind of sacrifices gladly for the pleasure of Allaah. It is not
an easy destination for simply expressing Islamic faith in words. Its path runs through
hardships and only those who persevere, reach that destination.

Once these Sunan of Allaah are understood, the results encountered in the battle of Uhad start
making sense.

The next verse responds to some complainants about the defeat from another angle. Often,
people boast high aims, grand schemes and willingness to sacrifice everything for a cause but
when reality hits they fail to perform, show lack of commitment, or even take a complete about
turn. It addresses those Muslims who used to express intense desire to die in the way of Allaah
but when they witnessed death at Uhad, they showed weakness and were afterwards
complaining about the defeat.
143
You certainly used to long for death before you met it, now you have seen it
while you were looking on.
Just as some Muslims thought that believers must never suffer a setback because they are on
the right, they also thought the Prophet being the true Messenger of Allaah should not suffer
any harm, and should always succeed. Thus, when it was rumoured that the Prophet was killed
in the battle, they became doubtful about the truth of Islam. This way of thinking needed to be
corrected because the truth must be believed on its own merits and because it makes sense, not
because it is succeeding in the world. Results of people’s endeavours should never be criterion
of what is right or what is wrong. Success in an endeavour does not necessarily indicate
rightness of the endeavour, nor does the failure necessarily indicate the wrongness of the
mission. Another weakness that needed to be corrected was some believers’ focus on the
person of the Prophet rather than on the objectives of Deen. There were some Sahaabah who
reacted to the rumour of his death by giving up fighting considering it to be of no use anymore.
Although they did not doubt the truth of the faith, they were ready to give up the mission in the
absence of the Prophet. It was important to clarify that a Muslim must persevere for objectives
of Deen even if there is no one else in the world to lead him in that mission. The mission must
be focused purely for the sake of Allaah who is ever-Living, without being impacted by the life
or death of the Prophet. That is why many other Sahaabah reacted to the rumour by fighting
even harder, thinking that if the Prophet had become a martyr for the sake of the Islamic
mission they should follow his suit for the same mission.

The next verse educates Muslims to adopt a proper attitude in this respect. In addition, it uses
this incident to bring the reality of the death of the Prophet to the minds of many believers who
could not even think of him dying. It corrects their thinking in this respect to ensure that the
Islamic mission continued under new leadership when he died.

144
Muhammad is only a messenger before whom many messengers have
passed away. Now, if he dies or is killed, will you turn back upon your heels?
Whoever turns back upon his heels, he will not do any harm to Allaah in any
way; while Allaah will reward the grateful.

The grateful in this respect are those who appreciate the guidance they have received from
Allaah through the Prophet and they stick with that path of guidance regardless of how long the
Prophet lives among them.

The fear of dying precludes many people from doing the right things, standing up for truth or
fighting for the establishment of an Islamic system of justice and peace. They forget the reality
that death is neither in human control nor can it be avoided. People look at death as the end of
the world, but it needs to be looked at as the end of a temporary test and the beginning of the
real life of the hereafter. The key concern of the believer is not death itself but in what
condition a believer dies. Did death find the believer focused on the pleasure of Allaah and
prepared for the success in the hereafter or did he die while he was busy running after the
worldly benefits? Thus it is not the length of the stay in the world that matters but how the stay
has been. Even a short stay would lead to a successful life in the hereafter if the stay ended
while focusing on the pleasure of Allaah.

145
It is not possible for anyone to die without Allaah’s permission as per a
determined decree. Whoever desires the reward of this world, We shall give it
to him; and whoever desires the reward of the hereafter, We shall give it to
him; and We shall reward the grateful.
The grateful here refers to those whose focus in the life of this world is appreciating Allaah’s
gift of life and maximizing the pleasure of Allaah instead of worldly gains. They show their
appreciation by living and dying only for Him and by willing to give their lives in His way.
They will enjoy the ultimate rewards of the eternal life.

As discussed earlier, the expectation of this kind of sincerity, dedication and perseverance and
the resultant rewards of Allaah are not new standards that are being required of the believers
now. It has always been that way. Histories of the previous prophets are replete with such tales.

146
And how many a prophet has fought wars, and many godly men alongside
him, but they did not become timid because of what afflicted them in Allaah's
cause, nor did they weaken, nor did they give in. And Allaah loves the
steadfast. 147 All that they said was: “Our Lord! Forgive us our sins and our
excesses in our affairs, establish our feet firmly and help us against the
disbelieving folk.” 148 So Allaah gave them the reward of this world and better
reward of the hereafter. And Allaah loves those who excel.

If the spirits of the believers are not dampened by setback, but rather they persevere bravely
and seek Allaah’s help, their steadfastness is appreciated and rewarded by Allaah SWT. In
addition, depending on the degree of excellence in their steadfastness, they are loved
accordingly by Allaah SWT.

After the setback to Muslims at Uhad, the hypocrites, Jews and pagans launched a massive
propaganda campaign to sow doubts about the truth of Islam and the Prophet so that Muslims
abandon Islam. Their attack went something like this: “Had the Prophet been a true Messenger
of Allaah, Muslims would not have been defeated. His defeat indicates that he is an ordinary
man. Victory and defeat is merely dependent on the physical dynamics of war and the claims
about Allaah’s or the angels’ help are only a myth.” This propaganda was affecting some weak
Muslims, especially when it was repeated by hypocrites who posed themselves to be Muslims
themselves. To help the weak but honest Muslims, Allaah SWT had explained the facts about
the matters of victory, defeat and Allaah’s help in the few preceding verses. Now, Muslims are
being warned to be on guard against the propaganda of disbelievers.
149
O believers! If you listen to disbelievers, they will make you turn back on
your heels, so you will end up being losers. 150 Ignore their propaganda
knowing that Allaah is your Patron and He is the best of the helpers.

Muslims are also being told that the felicitations of disbelievers are temporary. Their bragging
will soon be replaced by an awe of Islam and Muslims who are going to be the final victors. In
addition, they will have a miserable end in the Fire.

151
Soon We shall cast awe into the hearts of those who disbelieve because they
join partners with Allaah without His explicit authorization. They will end up
in the Fire – an evil abode for the wrong-doers.

Contrary to the propaganda of the disbelievers, the truth is that Allaah SWT did help the
Muslims as He had promised. However, people should not forget the rules of Allaah’s help.
Allaah’s help is given only when people do their humanly best, utilizing whatever is in their
own power and control in the given circumstances. Allaah’s help then covers and takes care of
whatever is beyond the power and control of the believers. But if the believers show weakness
in what they should have done, then Allaah SWT does not cover them for their weaknesses.
They have to learn the lessons and remedy their weaknesses. Thus as long as Muslims were
doing what they should have been doing, Allaah helped them to route an army much stronger
and well equipped than themselves. But because of the worldly considerations, as soon as they
abandoned their duty and tasks that they should have continued doing, Allaah’s help was put
on hold.

152
Allaah did indeed fulfil for you His promise when you were routing them
by His permission, until you lost your resolve, disputed about the order and
disobeyed after He showed you what you coveted – as there were among you
some that desired this world and some that desired the Hereafter. Then did He
divert you from your foes in order to test you but He forgave you, Allaah is full
of grace to the believers.

This verse refers to the loss of resolve on the part of the people who were appointed to guard
the pass. When they saw the enemy running away and people collecting booty of the war, they
also went after the booty. Although they were given clear instructions not to vacate that spot
regardless of what happened on the battlefield, they disagreed with their commander and
disobeyed the command. This is a very serious weakness that cannot be tolerated among the
ranks of the believers: Firstly, because the believers’ struggle in the way of Allaah has to be
exclusively for the pleasure of Allaah, pure of any desire for worldly benefits; secondly,
because instructions and commands from the Islamic leadership must be followed precisely
and completely.

Considering the gravity of the weaknesses highlighted by their actions, Allaah briefly
withdrew His support so that Muslims learned by suffering the natural results of their actions.
However, once the believers tasted the natural consequence of their behaviour, Allaah SWT
very kindly forgave them despite the gravity of their mistakes. The great sign of this
forgiveness was that Allaah made the Makkans retreat without routing Muslims completely,
which they could have easily done.

This suffering of the natural results due to believers’ mistakes was called a test because it was
an opportunity to prove if they learnt from such incidents or developed misgivings about their
faith and their mission. The next verse alludes to the bad consequences of their shortcomings
that they suffered.

153
Remember when you were running away rashly and were not paying heed
to anyone, and the Messenger, in your rear, was calling you back, so Allaah
gave you one distress after another to teach you not to be concerned about what
you lose or what you suffer; and Allaah is well aware of what you do.

The first part of the verse describes their dispersion and retreat in a totally shocked and
flabbergasted state by the sudden and severe attack from the enemy, after they had thought that
the battle was over. While they were running in that state, the Prophet was standing at his spot
like a rock, calling them to gather again, “Towards me, O slaves of Allaah”. At that time only a
dozen or so believers were fighting by his side. Naturally his calling aloud was indicating his
spot and the pagan army was focusing their attack on that spot to kill him. But no danger
would deter him from doing what he had to do.

“Distress one after the other” refers to sufferings such as a massive setback after initial victory,
rumour of Prophet’s martyrdom, heavy casualties and the danger to which the defeat exposed
the whole population of Madeenah – the size of the invading army was greater than the total
Muslim population of Madeenah including women and children and after defeating the Muslim
in battlefield, the Makkans could have invaded the unprotected city to plunder their
possessions, women and children.

The concerns about loss and suffering refer to the worries, questions, feelings and attitudes that
people may harbour in response to the setback. They needed to be taught that: It is not
necessary for the true prophet and his companions to always succeed; the people in the right
are not immune to the consequences of their errors; and the job of the believers is to do their
very best according to the instructions without worrying about the results, which are in
Allaah’s hands, and believers must accept gratefully whatever results they encounter.

When the mind is at ease and filled with tranquility, people are relaxed, falling easily to a deep
sleep and waking up fresh and energized. On the other hand, when the mind is filled with grief,
worries, questions and concerns, the resulting tension keeps people awake and distressed. After
the distress and suffering experienced at Uhad, two groups of people who claimed to be
Muslims had one of these two totally different experiences. The sincere believers who had put
their full trust in Allaah SWT felt such calmness and tranquility from Allaah SWT that they
started feeling drowsy even in the battlefield. They slept well at homes and were ready to
accompany the Prophet the next morning to chase the Makkans so that they did not come back
to attack after they realized their mistake of retreating without a decisive victory. Those who
were insincere in their dedication to Allaah’s pleasure and were more concerned about their
personal well being, were preoccupied with their anger over what was going on, frustration that
their hypocritical ideas were not appreciated and fear that the enemy may come back to attack.
They were the people who were complaining to the Prophet because he did not take their
advice of staying in town, instead of going out to face the Makkans.

154
Then after the distress, He sent down calm on you as slumber overcame a
party of you; while another party, who were anxious only about their own
selves, entertained about Allaah thoughts of ignorance quite unjustly and kept
saying: “Do we have any say in the matter?” Say, “The matter is wholly in
Allaah’s hands.” They conceal within themselves what they would not reveal
to you. They say, “Had we any say in the matter, we would not have been slain
here.” Say, “Even if you had remained in your homes, those for whom death
was decreed would certainly have gone forth to the places of their death.” And
Allaah was to use this setback to test your hidden feelings and to cleanse what
is in your hearts; and Allaah knows well the secrets of your hearts.

There are two characters presented here: The first character is that of sincere Muslims who
perform their duties to Allaah SWT for the attainment of the objectives of Deen in seeking His
pleasure with the utmost vigour, dedication and resolve, using the best of their capabilities and
resources available to them, striving for the best possible results, but knowing that the results
are purely in the hands of Allaah. Once they have done their best, they do not worry about the
results they encounter. They accept the results as the will of Allaah and the test for themselves
and continue to strive for the best results with their best efforts in the new circumstances.
Although they plan and work for the best results, they are content with whatever they
encounter. They look forward, not backward. Their job is to put in the best efforts and
resources; it is Allaah’s job to decide the results they will encounter. This attitude is called
Tawakkul (trust in or reliance on Allaah). Tawakkul liberates a sincere believer from all kinds
of worries and concerns and bestows peace of mind. The second is that of hypocrites who are
extremely short on making the efforts but are always worried about results. All their energies
are spent on analyzing the results and raising objections against the leadership for all the wrong
decisions they have made. They always complain about their opinions that were not heard and
spend their energies on proving the mistakes of the leadership. Because they lack Tawakkul,
they are always under fear, insecurity, stress, tension and worries.

So far, all the comments were made in general, addressing the Muslim Ummah as a whole. The
next verse specifically gives the good news of Allaah’s forgiveness to those sincere believers
who did not perform to the best level of their abilities. They had slipped and shown some
weakness on the day of Uhad in one way or the other.

155
As for those of you who turned back on the day when the two armies met, it
was Shayŧaan114 who caused them to slip because of some deeds they had done,
and certainly Allaah has pardoned them; surely Allaah is Oft-Forgiving, Most
Forbearing.

114
Satan
By now it has been well explained that a believer fully reposes Tawakkul (trust, reliance) in
Allaah. He does exactly as commanded without worrying about the dangers, challenges,
difficulties or consequences. Then, whatever results are encountered, whether very good or
extremely bad, they treat them as normal tests of the life of this world for which we have been
put in this world, and continue doing their best to attain the pleasure of Allaah and the
objectives of Deen in the given, new circumstances. On the other hand, a disbeliever’s or a
hypocrite’s focus is on the worldly pleasures and comforts, so he is distraught whenever
anything undesirable happens. Instead of accepting the incidents of life as tests, he frustrates
himself by thinking of all the different things that could have been done to avoid that
undesirable occurrence. Muslims are being advised to avoid that kind of disbelieving attitude
because it is totally incompatible with the true faith in Allaah.

156
O Believers! Do not be like those who disbelieve and say of their brethren
when they travel in the earth or engage in fighting, “Had they been with us,
they would not have died or been killed!” Thus Allaah makes this to be a
despairing regret in their hearts. It is Allaah that gives Life and Death, and
Allaah sees what you do. 157 And if you are killed in Allaah’s cause or you die,
the forgiveness and mercy from Allaah that you will receive are far better than
all that they amass. 158 And if you die or are killed, still to Allaah shall you be
gathered.

As was explained earlier, the period between birth and death is the duration of the test for
which we have been put on the earth. It is not the length of this test that has any relevance or
impact on the life of hereafter but what was done during that, brief or long, duration and how
the life ended. Someone who fights for Allaah’s cause and is killed is guaranteed to receive
forgiveness and mercy of Allaah SWT and, thus, will enjoy eternal comforts and unending
pleasures in the hereafter. But a hypocrite who avoids fighting for Allaah’s cause, lives long
and is able to amass much wealth will, sooner or later, also die and be gathered to Allaah SWT
for accountability and will end up as a loser. A wise person will always opt for the first choice
-- the guaranteed success, especially when we know that the length of the life is meaningless
compared to the eternity of the hereafter and regardless of how long a person lived, after death
it would seem like a dream that ended quite quickly.

In the previous several verses, hypocritical behaviour has been clearly identified and criticised
so that a sincere believer can learn from it and avoid that kind of behaviour and those who have
such traits can reform themselves, if they have any good in them. Although Allaah SWT
describes such behaviour for reformation and correction without naming any names or
identifying any segment of people, observant people can see who habitually behaves in that
manner. The Prophet knew clearly those people, but despite knowing their hypocrisy, he never
confronted them and always remained nice and polite to them. Sincere Muslims often wanted
the Prophet to become stern with them or take some action against them, but the next verse
approves of the behaviour of the Prophet so that sincere Muslims can also learn to be kind and
gentle in that manner.

It should be noted that the Prophet was gentle and kind to everyone. Just imagine how
normally people would react to someone who did not follow instructions and caused a huge
setback and defeat? The Prophet did not even rebuke or chastise them. Even in his daily life he
was so kind that Anas served him for ten years and he reported that the Prophet never even
questioned him on the things he failed to do, much less rebuke him.

159
Thus it is due to mercy from Allaah that you deal with them gently, had you
been harsh, hard hearted, they would certainly have dispersed from around
you. So pardon them and ask forgiveness for them and consult with them in the
conduct of affairs. Then, once you have taken a decision, rely on Allaah; for
Allah loves those who rely on Him. 160 If Allaah helps you, none can overcome
you; if He forsakes you, who is there, then, that can help you after Him? And
only on Allaah should the believers rely.

Being nice to the hypocrites does not mean that the decisions should be changed for their sake.
The Muslim leadership must make the decisions through the proper consultation (Shoora)
process. However, once a decision has been made after due consultation, regardless of any
pressures from any group, the decision must not be changed or revisited but acted upon as
decided. Every segment of the population must abide by and execute the decision as if it is
their own, even if they had previously differed with the opinion that was adopted as the final
decision. The consultative decision making process (Shoora) was implemented as soon as
Islamic state of Madeenah was established. It was used at the time of Badr as well as Uhad.
But at the time of Uhad, it resulted in discord in the community because some people refused
to respect the decision of the leadership. Despite the discord that the process of Shoora caused,
it is being emphasized in this verse that this Shoora process must continue and once the
decision is taken, it must be executed without accepting any pressure from any dissident group.
Although the Prophet was guided by Allaah to make the right decisions, Allaah could have
commanded that the Prophet did not need any consultation, that no Shoora would be
undertaken to avoid any future discord and that the Prophet would make all the decisions,
which must be followed by everyone without asking any questions. Although that would have
been perfectly justified, it would leave the Muslims untrained in conducting their affairs
through Shoora. But, considering the importance of consultation, the Prophet was commanded
to continue using the consultation process to make decisions so that Muslims were properly
indoctrinated and coached in its use. Thus, it is crucial that decisions about the affairs of
Muslims are made through consultation and once a decision is made, it is executed precisely
without being re-visited regardless of lobbying from any pressure group.

The execution of a decision must be undertaken with full reliance (Tawakkul) on Allaah
knowing that we are required to carry our decisions and instructions precisely as directed
regardless of the dangers or difficulties and without worrying about consequences, leaving
results only to Allaah SWT. Then, whatever consequences are brought about by Allaah, they
should be accepted as Allaah’s decisions and our test. This Tawakkul (reliance on Allaah) is
the integral part of faith in Allaah. Without such reliance (Tawakkul), faith in Allaah is
questionable.

There are many important lessons in the commentary on the battle of Uhad for those associated
with current Islamic movements. When an Islamic movement faces a setback, many people
who had a different opinion in a matter of policy or action item, become angry, show their
frustrations and cause problems for the leadership of the Islamic movement. Such attitudes
cause a lot of strife within the Islamic movement and also result in disintegration or break-up
of the movement. Many people become inactive due to frustrations caused by such problems.
Everyone involved in Islamic work must understand that once a decision has been taken by a
due process of Shoora, every worker must adopt it as his personal decision, even if he or she
feels it to be a wrong decision. If a setback is experienced, the workers must focus on planning
how best to move forward but they should never go back visiting old issues or try to prove that
their advice in the past, that was overruled by majority, was more accurate. Although every
lesson taught in relation to the setback suffered at Uhad has a pertinent lesson for the workers
of the contemporary Islamic movements, this is the most important lesson that seems to be
forgotten. It will also help a lot if the Islamic workers always remember that we are responsible
for doing our level best in any given circumstances; we are not the producers of results. Results
are in the hands of Allaah. When we review performance of our organizations, it must not be
assessed by looking at the results. We must review the performance by assessing the activities
from the perspectives of: Were the right things done at the right time in the right manner for
the right reasons with the best of dedication, efforts, abilities and resources available? And the
rightness should be judged by evaluating the action against the teachings of the Qur-aan and
wisdom learnt from the seerah of the Prophet, not by looking at the results.

The next few verses set straight the feelings of some new, weak Muslims affected by the
propaganda of hypocrites but then also use the opportunity to teach a lesson in honesty that
produced the most honest society that ever existed on this earth.

161
It is not possible for a prophet to betray trust. Anyone who betrays trust will
bring along his malpractice on the Resurrection Day; then everyone will be
recompensed fully for what they have earned, and they shall not be treated
unjustly. 162 Will, then, he who is always after the pleasure of Allaah be like
the one who draws on himself the wrath of Allaah, and whose abode is Hell – a
terrible destination? 163 They will be graded totally differently by Allaah, and
Allaah sees well what they do.

Before understanding the message of this verse, let us understand the matter first in general.
Betrayal or mishandling of trust can be in financial matters or in matter of other trusts and
responsibilities. In terms of financial matters, the Prophet was known for his impeccable
honesty both before his prophethood and afterwards. It was so perfect that even his staunchest
enemies who accused him of many false things never dared to accuse him of dishonesty. Thus,
no friend or foe would ever have a doubt about him in this respect. However, it was natural for
some people sometimes to be unhappy about the distribution of booty among the participants
of war in terms of who deserved what or how much. Although Islamic teachings related to the
booty of war had been explained at the time of battle of Badr, human weakness of people
would still sometimes cause them to raise some questions. This kind of misunderstanding arose
only because of the lack of knowledge of facts, considerations and wisdom that the Prophet
used in making his decisions. Thus, once they would perceive those factors, their complaints
would vanish.
Coming to the aftermath of the battle of Uhad, one should remember that because Muslims lost
in the second phase of the battle, there was no booty to be distributed. However, the defeat was
caused because some people ran to get the booty at the initial victory thinking that they might
not get anything if they stayed at their appointed spot and did not participate in collecting the
booty. This was due to their lack of understanding of the Islamic teachings and of the role of
the Prophet in equitable distribution.

There is another more important dimension of trust. Through the pledge of allegiance and
obedience, the Muslims had entrusted their lives and well being to the Prophet. Hypocrites
were using the setback of Uhad to raise doubts about his leadership because of the losses
suffered in the battle. They have been quoted in the previous verses about having no say in the
matters. All those complaints were hovering around the Prophet’s decision to go out to face the
Makkan attack, which they considered irresponsible. What they were ignoring was the
devastation that would have been caused by letting an army greater in number than the whole
population of Madeenah into the city. Their biases and hypocrisy prevented them from seeing
the devastation that alternative would have caused.

The first part of the verse reminds the people of the fact that there is no one better in handling
any kind of trust than a prophet of Allaah. Then, it is explained that it is ever so true for the
Prophet because he is focused par excellence in pursuit of Allaah’s pleasure, while
mishandling of trust brings displeasure of Allaah and is undertaken by a totally different kind
of personality.

Then these verses impress on all Muslims to handle the trusts honestly because any
mishandling, misappropriation and betrayal will be brought up on the Day of Judgment and
settled with justice. The Prophet inculcated this teaching further in the minds of believers by
giving them vivid pictures of accountability on the Day of Judgment. For example, Aboo
Hurayrah reported, “One day the Prophet stood up and talked about dishonesty in depositing
booty with the Islamic treasury. He labelled it as an extremely grave sin and said: I should not
see any one of you on the Day of Judgment in a condition that he is carrying a camel on his
shoulders and asking me to help, and I will respond to him that I cannot help you in this matter
in the court of Allaah. I had delivered the message properly to you. Nor should I see any one of
you with a horse neighing on his shoulders and asking me to help, and I will respond to him
that I cannot help you in this matter in the court of Allaah. I had delivered the message
properly to you. Nor should I see any one of you with any other animal on his shoulders and
asking me to help, and I will respond to him that I cannot help you in this matter in the court of
Allaah. I had delivered the message properly to you.”115 Teachings such as this produced such
an honest community that any worker will bring and deposit every thing he collected from a
needle to the most precious assets. An ordinary soldier would find, for example, the extremely
precious crown of the emperor of Persia when no one in the world was watching and quietly
deposit it to the treasury.

Complainers are usually those who, as soon as something unpleasant happens, forget all the
goodness brought to them or favours done to them and start campaigning about the unpleasant
occurrence, ignoring the earlier goodness and favours. Arabs were totally misguided, devoid of

115
Reported by Bukhaari and Muslim from Aboo Hayaan
any concept of fairness or justice and deprived of peace and security except around the Holy
Ka‘bah. Allaah favoured them by raising the Prophet among them to guide them, educate them
and transform their lives to the highest pinnacle of civilization. Not only was the job he was
assigned to do a great favour, but also he was one of their own, not a stranger or foreigner, not
an angel or jinn, but human like themselves from their own society and the most respectable
tribe, clan and family. All this was done to make it easy for them to accept him, understand his
message and emulate the guidance he imparted. Then, he was so kind and gentle in coaching
them towards excellence of behaviour, and was not stern or harsh at all. In addition, he was an
embodiment of excellence and perfection of every thing he taught, so that it was clear that all
Islamic teachings were practicable within human capacity. Thus, Muslims should be grateful
for all these great favours instead of complaining for a setback that was caused by their own
mistakes.

164
Allaah did confer a great favour on the believers when He sent them a
messenger from among themselves, informing them of His signs, purifying
them, and teaching them the Book and the wisdom, whereas before that they
were living in sheer misguidance.

The Jews’ and hypocrites’ propaganda that “if Muhammad was a true Prophet, why was he not
helped to avoid defeat” was continuing in full force. More than half of the army at Uhad
comprised of people who had been Muslim for less than a year116, having joined after the
victory in Badr, who did not have yet a chance to fully assimilate and adopt proper Islamic
thinking. Some of those new Muslims were being affected by this propaganda and needed the
proper Islamic perspective fully clarified. So, in the next verse, they are once again being told
that Allaah SWT, Who has power over everything, could help or withdraw His help as He
liked. He did help them in the Battle of Badr just a year ago when they were able to inflict
twice as much damage as they had suffered in this battle117. But this time Allaah decided to let
them suffer the natural consequences of their disobedience and weakness instead of shielding
them from it. So if they were looking for the reason of their sufferings, they only needed to
look at their own mistakes and work on correcting them.

165
How strange that when you suffered a setback, while you had inflicted
twice as much on opponents, you said, “Where is this from?” Tell them, O
Prophet, “It is from yourselves.” Surely Allaah has power over everything. 166
What you suffered on the day the two armies met, was with the permission of
Allaah to identify the believers 167 and to identify the hypocrites who, when
invited to fight for Allaah’s cause or to defend, said, “If we figured that there
would be a battle today, we would certainly follow you!” They were that day
nearer to disbelief than to Faith. They say with their mouths what is not in their
hearts, and Allaah best knows what they conceal.

116
A year ago at the battle of Badr, the collective Muslims power was only 313, but for Uhad 700 had
gone out to fight.
117
70 Makkan were killed and 70 captured at Badr as against 70 Muslim casualties at Uhad.
Allaah’s letting the Muslims suffer the consequences of their mistakes was done for some very
important goals such as giving them opportunity to improve themselves and remediate their
weaknesses. Those goals have been mentioned earlier. But the most important advantage of
such tough times is that sincere people become evident from hypocrites. The attitude, the
reaction, the talk and the concerns – everything clearly indicates who is sincere to the mission
and who is coming along just for the ride or some ulterior motives. The hypocrisy of those who
deserted the army early in the morning for the excuse that their opinion was not given due
importance was exposed by their desertion at such a critical moment. But when some sincere
people who did not know the extent of their hypocrisy approached them to re-consider their
decision and re-join the army or at least defend the city, the hypocrites sought to save their face
by claiming that they were not running away from the battle, but rather they knew there would
be no battle that day and that was why they had decided to go home. It was an absurd excuse
because they did know that Makkan army was already there and had come to fight, not to wait
around. However, their hypocrisy became even more evident when the Muslims suffered heavy
casualties and those hypocrites blamed the Muslims for not listening to their advice of staying
at home.

168
They are those who sat at home and said of their brethren, “Had they
listened to us, they would not have been killed.” Say, “Then avert death from
yourselves if you are truthful!”

When it is impossible to avert death, is it not wise to give life in the way of Allaah and please
Him, especially when such apparent death, in fact, results into an immediate life in the
hereafter with all it bounties, joys and pleasures?

169
Do not think of those who are killed in the way of Allaah as dead; nay, they
are alive and, in the presence of their Lord, are provided sustenance; 170
jubilant for what Allaah has given them out of His grace; happy for those left
behind, who have not yet joined them, that they shall have no fear, nor shall
they grieve; 171 and rejoicing about the grace from Allaah and bounty, and
about the fact that Allaah does not deprive the believers of their reward.

People may feel sorry for the martyrs, but the martyrs are jubilant and rejoicing for what they
have done and what they have accomplished in terms of rewards. In fact, they wish if they
could go back to the world again and again to die in the way of Allaah every time. Also, they
wish that others would follow their suit and would experience the same joy of dying in the way
of Allaah as they have experienced.

This was for those sincere believers who were accepted by Allaah as martyrs. The next verse
talks about those sincere believers whom no hardship, loss or injury could deter to respond to
the call of Allaah and His Messenger. When Makkans had reached Rowĥaa and stationed
there, they realized that they had come back too soon without routing out Muslims completely.
There, they decided to go back and attack Madeenah once again to completely destroy the
Muslim community. The Prophet also considered the possibility of Makkans’ coming back to
attack. So early next morning, he asked the sincere believers to get ready to chase the Makkan
army. Despite their losses and injuries, the sincere Muslims responded and they went as far as
Ĥamraa-ul Asad. When the Makkans heard that the Muslims were coming after them, they lost
the courage to confront them. Thus, they decided to return to Makkah and the Muslims came
back to Madeenah.

172
As for those who responded to the call of Allaah and the Messenger after
suffering the setback, those among them who excel and maintain Taqwa shall
have a great reward.

Excellence here refers to their superior level of Tawakkul on Allaah to do the right thing
expected of them despite the difficulties and their superb dedication in obeying the Prophet
despite the adverseness of the conditions and circumstances. As for Taqwa, it is such a critical
companion of the sincere faith that a sincere believer is never without it. Any weakness in
Taqwa shows itself in the form of hypocritical behaviour.

The next three verses refer to the incident that took place a year after Uĥad but the comments
have been included here to complete the commentary on all matters related to Uĥad. When
leaving Uĥad, Aboo Sufyaan, the commander of the Makkan army had challenged the Prophet
to confront him the same time next year at Badr. When the time approached, the Makkans sent
a person to spread rumours in Madeenah that the Quraish are assembling the most powerful
army ever witnessed in Arabia. The objective was to scare Muslims so much that they lose the
courage to come out to Badr. It really dampened the spirit of many Muslims. But the Prophet
announced that he would be going regardless of who joins or does not join him on this
expedition. When Muslim saw the Prophet’s resolve, they got ready and the Prophet departed
from Madeenah with 1500 Muslims. The Prophet arrived at Badr at the appointed time, but
Aboo Sufyaan who had left Makkah with an army of 2000 went back after two days’ journey,
saying to his army to postpone the expedition for one year because of the famine in Makkah at
that time. The Prophet stayed at Badr for eight days during which time, his companions were
able to make some money by doing business with a trade caravan.

173
Those to whom the people said, “You must fear the big army that has
gathered against you;” but this increased their faith, and they said, “Sufficient
for us is Allaah and how excellent is He as the guardian.” 174 So they returned
home with grace and bounty from Allaah, no harm touched them, while they
sought the good pleasure of Allaah, and Allaah is the possessor of Infinite
Bounty. 175 It is only the devil who suggests to you the fear of his friends. So
do not fear them, but fear Me if you are believers.
Faith (Eeman) is not a static condition. It continues to change according to the response of a
believer to the demands of the faith. It increases and strengthens when the situation is properly
understood and responded positively; it diminishes and weakens when demands of faith are not
properly responded to. When, in response to scary rumours about Makkan attack, the believers
showed their determination to defend their faith and reposed their full reliance on Allaah
(Tawakkul) instead of being afraid of the Makkan attack, their faith grew even stronger.
A true faith in Allaah frees a person from any kind of fear except that of Allaah’s. They are
only scared of displeasing Allaah SWT. They do not relent in pursuit of Allaah’s pleasure even
if entails the biggest dangers that can be imagined, nor do they let Shayŧaan and his human
companions scare them from doing whatever is required to be done for the Islamic mission in
slavery to Allaah SW.

Now that was the condition of the sincere believers who had understood and adopted faith
properly. The attitude of the hypocrites was totally different. When they perceived that the
apparent odds were against Muslims but in favour of Makkans, they thought that their interest
would be better served by siding with the pagans of Makkah. Hence, they started actively
supporting Makkans and working, talking and propagating against the interest of the Muslims.
In the next verse, Allaah SWT advises the Prophet and the Muslims not to worry because these
hypocrites will not be able to hurt the Islamic mission. Then, it continues with comments on
their follies and the terrible punishment that will be waiting for them.
176
Let not those who are rushing to surpass in disbelief sadden you, they can
definitely do no harm to Allaah in any way. Allaah does not want to grant them
any share of the bounties of the hereafter; rather, for them there shall be a
severe punishment. 177 Surely those who have bought disbelief at the price of
faith do no harm to Allaah in any way, and for them there shall be a painful
punishment. 178 And let not those who disbelieve consider that Our granting
them respite is good for themselves; We grant them respite only that they may
add to their sins; and for them there shall be a disgraceful punishment.

In the short term, the hypocrites’ anti-Islamic activities seem to be very successful. They seem
to be achieving their objectives and getting recognition from the right kind of people. This is
respite from Allaah because Allaah SWT lets their efforts achieve their natural results though
He utterly disapproves their activities. This leads them to increase their anti-Islamic rhetoric
even more and thus add to their crimes and the consequent punishment in the hereafter.

It should be noted that the words used to describe their behaviour is “disbelief” and they have
been regarded as disbelievers. This is because the actions they are undertaking are the actions
of disbelief, although they continue pretending to be or claiming to be Muslims. That is what
makes them hypocrites: they claim to be Muslims while they act as disbelievers.

The basic tenets of the paradigm of hypocrisy are to go with the flow, to be with the winner
and to preserve and bolster their personal worldly self-interest. They join the Islamic
movement and claim to be Muslims only because they think it is to their benefit to pretend that
way. When the Islamic mission is growing and succeeding, many hypocrites join it from that
perspective. If the Islamic mission keeps succeeding without any setbacks, the sincere Muslims
will never know clearly if there are any hypocrites in their midst. The hypocrisy of people
becomes evident only when times are tough and the believers are required to make sacrifices.
That is when their grudging, complaining, distancing themselves from Muslims and many
other traits like that disclose their insincerity. In good times, they can easily remain hidden and
enjoy the benefits of calling themselves Muslims. If good times continue and they remain
hidden in Muslim ranks, their presence will be very dangerous to the Islamic objectives when
the Islamic movement comes into power and governs. Such hypocrites, being very ambitious
for worldly benefits, will be able to grab power from the sincere Muslims who will not be
ambitious for power because of their focus on the hereafter. This takeover of power by
insincere people will defeat the whole purpose of the Islamic mission. Allaah SWT does not
want that to happen. To stop it from happening, Allaah SWT can either inform people on the
basis of His knowledge of the unseen that such and such individuals are the hypocrites; or He
can let the Islamic mission go through some difficulties which puts the faith of people to test so
that their behaviour clearly identifies who is sincere and who is a hypocrite. Informing people
by disclosing to them His knowledge of the unseen is against the overall plan of Allaah SWT
of dealing with people in the temporary life of this world. Hence, the only alternative and the
only natural way of sorting sincere people from insincere is to let the mission go through some
very difficult times. The next verse refers to this point.

179
Allaah is not to leave the believers in the condition that you are in until He
separates bad from good; nor is Allaah to disclose to you the secrets of the
Unseen. Rather, Allaah chooses of His messengers whom He wills; therefore,
believe in Allaah and His messengers. If you believe and adopt Taqwa, then
you shall have a great reward.

Allaah SWT does share whatever secrets of His knowledge of the unseen He wants with the
messengers He sends for the guidance of the people and for leading the Islamic mission.
People should believe in Allaah and His messengers so sincerely that it develops an attitude of
Taqwa in them, purifying them completely from hypocrisy. That is the kind of sincere people
who will enjoy great rewards.

Another telltale sign of hypocrisy is reluctance and stinginess in spending money for the
purposes of the Islamic mission. The next verse comments on that aspect of hypocrisy.
180
And let not those who are niggardly in giving what Allaah has granted them
out of His grace assume that it is good for them; nay, it is worse for them. Soon
that which they hoard will be collared around their necks on the Resurrection
Day. To Allaah belongs the inheritance of the heavens and the earth; and
Allaah is well aware of what you do.

Those who are reluctant to spend in the way of Allaah forget the fact that whatever they have
belongs to Allaah and has been given temporarily in their custody for the purpose of testing
them. Soon, they will depart from this world leaving everything behind. Everything was
Allaah’s and will be ultimately inherited by Allaah SWT after people die. The wise are those
who spend it in Allaah’s way and earn eternal rewards. On the other hand, those who keep
hoarding it will be leaving it behind anyway, but in addition, will come burdened with the
hoarded wealth worn around their necks like a collar.

Although everything belongs to Allaah SWT and He has all the right to ask people to spend it
the way he wants, He is so kind and merciful towards people that when He asks people to
spend in His way for the Islamic mission, He regards their spending as a loan to Him that will
be paid back with excellent return on investment on the Day of Judgment. He encourages
people to spend in His way by asking them to give Him a loan. The hypocrites, especially their
Jewish counterparts, started using this call for loan as a taunt, saying words to the effect that
Allaah has become so poor that now He needs loan from people. The next verse comments on
that behaviour.

181
Allaah has certainly heard the taunt of those who said, “Truly, Allaah is
poor and we are rich.” We shall record what they said and their killing the
prophets unjustly, and We shall say, “Taste the punishment of burning! 182 This
is what your hands have sent before; and Allaah is never unjust to His slaves at
all.”

Just imagine the intensity of displeasure and anger hidden in the words, “We shall record what
they said.” This kind of taunting indicates the same kind of rebellious attitude that caused them
to kill the prophets. Allaah SWT is furiously angry with them for both of these crimes.

Mention of the Jews and their rebellious crimes created an occasion for responding to some of
their other dishonest propaganda. When they were asked for their reason of not believing in the
Prophet as the Messenger of Allaah, they would use the following excuse:

183
Those are they who said, “Allaah has enjoined us that we should not believe
in any messenger until he brings us an offering which the miraculous fire
consumes.” Say to them, “Indeed, many messengers before me came to you
with clear signs118 and with that which you have just demanded, then why did
you kill them if you are truthful?” 184 Then if they deny you, so were denied
messengers before you who came with clear signs, scriptures and the
illuminating Book.

The Jewish excuse was invalid for two reasons:

There was no such command in Towraat. There are only three episodes that mention
such an occurrence but without proposing it a test for believing in a prophet. When
Moosa and Haaroon initiated the rites of sacrifice offerings, a fire from heaven
consumed the sacrifice as a sign of Allaah’s acceptance of the sacrifices119. Another
incident is about Prophet Sulaymaan (Solomon) after he offered the sacrifice and
prayed, his sacrifice was consumed by a fire from heaven as a sign of acceptance of
the offering from Allaah. Both of these incidents had nothing to do with evaluating
whether a Prophet was genuine or not. In the third incident, Prophet Elias challenged
worshippers of Baal that both parties should offer a sacrifice and call upon their
deities to send a fire to consume it and see whose deity is a True God Who is able to
send a miraculous fire to do so. His challenge was accepted and sacrifice was offered

118
Miracles
119
Levi 9:24
 in public. The worshipper of Baal prayed all day but nothing happened. When Elias
prayed to Allaah, suddenly a fire came from heaven and consumed the sacrifice.120
But even this clear sign did not help. The Israelite rulers decided to kill him. He ran
away to save his life and complained to Allaah, “for the people of Israel have forsaken
thy covenant, thrown down thy altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I,
even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away."121

Even if these incidents are stretched to make them a test of the claim of a Prophet,
Israelites themselves did not follow the results of the test in the past. Even the
messenger who chose to offer this kind of sacrifice had to run for his life.

The Noble Qur-aan concisely refers to the second point only because that is the crux of the
issue. Israelites have been rejecting, opposing and killing the prophets not because of the
dearth of the miracles but because they did not want to change their lifestyle and their worldly
priorities to comply with the requirements of faith. The excuses they fabricated to justify their
obduracy were all invalid. Their rejecting the Prophet Muĥammad ŝall Allaahu 'alayhi wa
sallam was not unusual. That was how they had been behaving with the previous prophets and
messengers as well.

As the fundamental factor that determines the behaviour of a person whether he is going to
become a sincere Muslim or whether he is going to reject faith or become a hypocrite is that
person’s paradigm about the life of this world. If the paradigm that the person lives by is to
maximize gains and satisfactions of this world, that person cannot make any sacrifices or make
changes in his life that are required by Islam; thus he either rejects Islam openly or behaves
like a hypocrite – claiming to be a Muslim but acting like a disbeliever. If the person decides to
live by the paradigm of maximizing the pleasure of Allaah and thus the chances of success in
the hereafter, he becomes a sincere Muslim ready to sacrifice his worldly expediencies for the
sake of the Islamic mission. Therefore, the next verse reminds people of the Islamic paradigm
of life.

185
Everyone shall be tasting death, and you shall be paid your full recompense
only on the Resurrection Day. Then, whoever is removed far away from the
Fire and is made to enter the Garden he indeed will have attained success;
while the life of this world is nothing but means of deception.

The life of this world is a means of deception because people continue to be deceived by it.
They know that it is temporary, short and passing quickly, but they still continue to spend all
their efforts and resources chasing it at the cost of the hereafter that will be eternal. In addition,
they have been clearly told that the kind of circumstances a person encounters in life or the
results of the efforts a person sees are only part of the test for which we have been put on this
earth. A person who succeeds and prospers does not necessarily mean that he is right and
favoured by Allaah; or a person who fails or faces difficulties does not necessarily mean that
he is wrong or disfavoured by Allaah. Despite being told again and again, they still continue

120
1Kings 18:23-38
121
1Kings 19:10, RSV
judging rightness or wrongness of a person according to his circumstance or the results he
encounters instead of judging the views of the person on a rational or logical basis.

When the true success is the success of the hereafter, the sincere Muslims should always be
ready to face difficulties and make sacrifices for their faith because those difficulties shall
always come – whether they are financial and physical or whether they are psychological
caused by the taunts, accusations and propaganda of anti-Islamic forces.

186
You shall certainly be tried and tested respecting your possessions and your
own selves; and you shall certainly hear much abuse from those who were
given the Book before you from those who worship many gods. But if you
persevere and continue to maintain Taqwa, then that complies with the
determined standard of performance.

In face of any kind of difficulties, the desired standard of response from sincere believers is
perseverance in working for the Islamic mission (attaining objective of Deen) and maintenance
of Taqwa in pursuit of Allaah’s pleasure. This admonition is not only important so that the
believers remain steadfast without being disheartened, but also to ensure that the believers
respond to their attacks, injustices, false accusations and baseless propaganda in a measured,
principled, polite and best possible manner.

The next three verses make the concluding comments on the attitude of the “so-called” people
of the Book so that they can re-consider their behaviour and Muslims can be vigilant to avoid
that kind of behaviour in future.

187
Remember when Allaah took a covenant from those who were given the
Book: “You shall certainly make it known to people and you shall not conceal
it”, but they tossed it behind their backs and sold it for a paltry price. What a
wretched bargain they are making. 188 Do not think those who are delighted for
what they have done and love to be praised for what they have not done – so
by no means think them to be safe from the punishment. For them is a painful
punishment. 189 And Allaah's is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and
Allaah has power over all things.

How ironic that the so called people of the Book are deft in fabricating the covenants with
Allaah that never really existed, but they conveniently forget the real covenants that were
entered into with special emphasis and were reminded to them again and again. They forgot
their responsibility to spread the Deen of Allaah in the world, to excel in conduct, to establish
the Islamic system of peace and justice and to ensure that all those teachings of the Towraat
about these important objectives of Deen were effectively remembered, disseminated and
passed on to the subsequent generations. For example:
4
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD; 5 and you shall love the LORD
your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6 And
these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; 7 and you shall
 teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your
house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8
And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets
between your eyes. 9 And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on
your gates.122
18
"You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul; and
you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between
your eyes. 19 And you shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are
sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down,
and when you rise. 20 And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house and
upon your gates… 22 For if you will be careful to do all this commandment which I
command you to do, loving the LORD your God, walking in all his ways, and
cleaving to him… 26 "Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: 27 the
blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command
you this day, 28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD
your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you this day, to go after
other gods which you have not known.123
1
Now Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, "Keep all the
commandment which I command you this day. 2 And on the day you pass over the
Jordan to the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall set up large stones,
and plaster them with plaster; 3 and you shall write upon them all the words of this
law… 8 And you shall write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly." 9
And Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, "Keep silence and hear, O
Israel: this day you have become the people of the LORD your God. 10 You shall
therefore obey the voice of the LORD your God, keeping his commandments and his
statutes, which I command you this day."124

Instead of following these commandments, they ignored them completely and even
manipulated the text to suit their worldly expediencies. For example, the neglect was so terrible
that one of the Jewish kings was even surprised to discover the existence of Towraat:
8
And Hilki'ah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, "I have found the book of
the law in the house of the LORD." And Hilki'ah gave the book to Shaphan, and he
read it. 9 And Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, "Your
servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered
it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the LORD." 10
Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, "Hilki'ah the priest has given me a book."
And Shaphan read it before the king. 11 And when the king heard the words of the
book of the law, he rent his clothes. 12 And the king commanded Hilki'ah the priest,
and Ahi'kam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micai'ah, and Shaphan the
secretary, and Asai'ah the king's servant, saying, 13 "Go, inquire of the LORD for me,

122
Deut 6:4-9, RSV
123
Duet 11, RSV
124
Duet 27, RSV
 and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been
found; for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our
fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written
concerning us."125

The manipulation of the text and the message of the Book to suit their worldly expediencies
and material considerations has been labelled as “selling it for a paltry price”. Regardless of
how big a material benefit a person or the community as a whole may get by manipulating and
hiding the real message of the Book, it is a paltry price because of the temporary nature and
limitations of that benefit as compared to the limitless and eternal benefits of the hereafter.

Another big irony is that although they have abandoned the Book and the objectives of the
Deen, they still want to be praised as the people of the Book and the chosen people. They still
want to be respected as the scholars and doctors of divinity. They still want to be recognized
for their crooked kind of piety and righteousness.

Unfortunately, a majority of Muslims have done the same thing to the Qur-aanic teachings and
to the Islamic objectives of Deen. Instead of remembering them, disseminating them and
implementing them fully, Muslims have forgotten them altogether. Like the Jews, they also
think that they are the best people in the world, though they neither possess any of the personal
excellence that Islam teaches nor have they established the Islamic system of justice and peace
in the world. Many of the Muslim “scholars” want to be praised for their Taqwa, righteousness,
knowledge, and service to Islam though all they do is serve their personal agenda and promote
ritual practices without doing anything for the matters that are so important in Islam. That is
why Allaah SWT has withdrawn His help and support from us as He did from the Israelites
when they adopted the same kind of behaviour. That is why we are at the receiving end of all
the abuse and persecution at the hands of people of other religions while there seems to be no
end or respite in sight.

If we re-dedicate ourselves to the objectives of Deen giving the attainment of those objectives
the highest priority in our life ahead of our personal priorities, then Allaah SWT will again
bestow us the power, status and glory in His kingdom. He definitely has the power to do so if
we change ourselves to deserve it.

This concludes the discourse that started with the comments on the battle of Uĥad and all
subsequent events related to it. The remaining eleven verses are the concluding comments for
the Soorah.

125
2Kings 22, RSV
The comments begin with the mention of the reality that this universe and its systems are
collectively an open book of Allaah’s signs. From the initial act of creation, the big bang, to the
intricate laws of nature on which the universe is operating, all were specifically designed to
enable, support and sustain human life in this world. Everything we could ever need was
provided. The satisfaction of our needs was built right into the plan of creation of the universe
so that the speed and intensity of the bang, the formation of various kind of stars, the properties
of matter, the distances between planets and especially distance of earth from the sun, the
atmosphere around the earth, the speed of the earth’s rotation and revolution and the
consequent days and night and weather patterns, the attributes of water, the attributes of
different layers of earth’s atmospheres – everything has been designed to meet our needs and
to sustain our life. They see the design and plan for sustaining life and providing for human
needs, freedom of making decisions given to people, the delegation of authority to human
beings to use the resources of the land, the faculty of reasoning, the conscience, the capability
to know right from wrong, etc When they keenly ponder over these signs and sincerely reflect
upon them, they cannot help but realize that:

This universe and everything in it is physical, finite, working according to a design,

plan, laws and regulations; it is neither a haphazard result of an accident as some
philosophers suggest nor just an image or a perception as some mystics suggest;

This finite universe has one unique Creator who is infinite;

He has created human beings and a wonderful system of sustaining life, showing that
He is very gracious and extremely merciful;

Providing so carefully and graciously for human needs, giving human beings freedom
and delegating authority to them cannot be purposeless; people must have to be
accountable for the resources, freedom and authority they have been given;

There will be a time when this finite system will end, and people finally will be held
accountable and when perfect justice is done to all, without being wronged a bit.

The result of accountability will be that good performers will be rewarded and bad
performers will be punished.

Thus the right kind of reflection leads people to a firm faith in the hereafter. Once this
realization occurs, the person immediately is overwhelmed with the sense of responsibility and
accountability to Allaah SWT and seeks His help and protection to avoid His punishment. To
prepare for that accountability, he accepts Islam and starts living by it. Thus to accept Islam,
one does not need to see miracles or sacrifices being consumed by miraculous fire, but a
sincere heart and a thinking mind. This is the point that the Prophet made when a few persons
came to the Prophet ŝall Allaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, mentioned the miracles of Moosa and
‘Eesa AS and asked the Prophet what miracles he brought. The Prophet recited verses 190-195
and told them that that is what he has brought126.
190
Verily, in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the alternation of
night and day, there are definite signs for prudent persons – 191 those who
always think about Allaah while standing, sitting or lying on their sides, and

126
This incident is mentioned in Tafheemul Qur-aan by Syed Abul A’laa Maudoodi, vol. I, note 140,
page 314
who ponder over creation and operation of the universe (and exclaim and
pray):
“Our Lord! You have not created all this in vain. Your Glory is above
and beyond indulging in purposeless acts. So, save us from the torment
of the Fire. 192 Our Lord! Whomever you cast into the Fire will indeed
be disgraced and never will such wrongdoers find any helpers. 193 Our
Lord! We heard a caller calling to the Faith, saying: ‘Believe in your
Lord.’ So we believed. Hence, Our Lord! Forgive us our sins and remit
our evil deeds from us and let our end be with the faithful. 194 Our
Lord! And grant us what You have promised us through Your
messengers; and disgrace us not on the day of resurrection; surely You
do not renege on the promise.”

It should be remembered that the thinking and reflection that helps in this regard is not trying
to find out how the things are working or might have worked as most of the scientists do; but it
should be a quest to determine if it happened accidentally or as a result of a planned creation
by a Creator. If a person does not care at all whether God exists or not or is happy to adopt the
default view of the society or his colleagues, he will never be guided regardless of how much
knowledge of science that person is able to accumulate. The people who are guided by this
process of reflection are only those who sincerely want to discover the truth and live by it. The
person has to have a desire to find out if God exists or not. It should be an important issue for
the person and he should be seriously thinking about it. This seriousness and sincerity is
indicated by him thinking about this day and night -- standing, sitting and reclining. These
three positions cover all the positions a person can be in and thus indicate that the person is
preoccupied with this thinking, doing it all the time until he is able to make a decision one way
or the other.

When a serious and sincere thinker reaches the conclusion that yes there is an Infinite Creator
for this finite universe, the call to faith from an Islamic worker hits home with that person and
he immediately accepts Islam on the basis of rational evidence, without seeking evidence of
miracles. Their reaching this conclusion is a sign of their wisdom and prudence. If a person
cannot even figure out such a evident fact about Allaah though reflection on his such clear
signs, he can neither be wise nor prudent regardless of how many Credentials he has obtained
about his scientific knowledge and research.

Once the person has become a believer, the remembrance of Allaah SWT in all positions and
all time continues because of the concern about pleasing Him and not doing anything that will
displease Him or will make accountability to Him difficult.

It is very important to note that one of the conclusions that prudent people arrive at is that
“never will such wrongdoers find any helpers.” This is extremely important to understand
because if bad performers can evade the consequence of their evil actions, the whole concept
of accountability is rendered useless and the purposefulness of Allaah’s act of putting us for a
test in this world becomes invalid. Thus, this verse should make all those tremble with fear of
Allaah who have been thinking that so and so will be able to intercede on their behalf to help
them evade the consequences of their evil deeds.

They also pray for their end to be with faithful people. Faithful people (Abraar in Arabic) are
those who remain steadfast on their faith through all kinds of thick and thin, remain loyal to
their principles in all kinds of circumstances and fulfill their covenant made with Allaah until
their last breath. These prudent people want to be that faithful and be counted among them.

The realization about accountability made the thinking people pray to Allaah for His help,
mercy and forgiveness to avoid failure and humiliation on the Day of Judgement, knowing that
it will not be an easy thing and it will be lifelong struggle. The following is the response of
Allaah to their supplication:
195
So their Lord responded to their prayer, saying, “I will not waste the work
of a worker from you whether he be a male or a female -- the one of you being
from the other; therefore, those who migrated or were driven out of their
homes or were persecuted for My sake or have fought or were killed, I shall
most certainly remit their evil deeds from them and I shall most certainly admit
them into the Gardens beneath which rivers flow; a reward from Allaah, and
with Allaah is the best of rewards.

Although thinking and reflection leads to faith, it is useless if it does not immediately
transform into faith-based actions taken to achieve the objectives of the Islamic mission. That
is why the very first part of the response stresses the value of actions and indicates that Allaah
SWT really appreciates actions of the believers and does never let any sincere actions go to
waste.

Allaah SWT has taken this opportunity to emphasize that this good news of success has
nothing to do with gender. It applied to equally to both sexes who are born of each other and
not different from each other in being the slaves of Allaah. It is the quality of the actions, the
level of sincerity and the extent of the personal sacrifices made for the mission that determine
the rewards, not the physical features, gender or lineage of a person.

The list of actions included in the verse is very telling about the nature of the actions that are
being talked about here. They are all the difficult action and sacrifices that believers were
making for the attainment of the Islamic objectives. The nature of actions and sacrifices will
differ from stage to stage of the Islamic mission. Earlier in Makkah, the nature of sacrifices
was different. At that time, it was migrating to Madeenah and fighting alongside of the
Prophet. Whatever actions are required at the current stage of the Islamic mission they must be
taken regardless of what sacrifices need to be made for them. It shows that once faith is
adopted on a rational basis, a sincere believer will immediately dedicate himself to the
objectives of Islamic mission and make any sacrifice needed for that purpose. The good news
is that such dedicated behaviour is appreciated by Allaah SWT, it never goes to waste even if
we cannot see its results immediately in this world and it leads to a wonderful success in the
hereafter. Thus, the concern of the prudent people expressed in the form of du‘aa (supplication)
has been addressed by assuring them that their sincere sacrifices will definitely bring them a
beautiful success.

As far as the circumstances of the world are concerned, they should never influence the
dedication of the believers to their faith. Often people see the enemies of Islam having power,
influence, wealth and success in worldly matters and wonder that if the enemies of Islam are
on the wrong path, then why are they succeeding. On the other hand, why are Muslims
suffering and have to make the difficult sacrifices while being on the right path. This confusion
arises for not properly understanding the nature of this world and Allaah’s laws about it. In this
world Allaah SWT has given freedom to people and they are being tested for that freedom.
During this test, every human being gets the fruits of his efforts. Whoever works harder,
whether a believer or a disbeliever, gets better results. Disbelievers focus on amassing worldly
gains, wealth and power, by hook or crook, so they get it. It has nothing to do with being right
or wrong. It depends on the efforts and resources that are put in. A believer on the other hand
focuses on the hereafter and makes sacrifices for that purpose including being careful to work
strictly according to the Islamic principles of honesty and fairness. Hence, he may not be able
to attain as much material success.

Also, as a result of their previous efforts, exploitations, and injustices, the disbelievers are
usually already well established in control of the wealth and resources of the land, while
Muslims are trying to wrest the power and control from them. To do so, the Muslims have to
work hard and go through all the natural difficulties of bringing change in the world. It is not
Allaah’s way to artificially put them on the top. Everything has to happen through appropriate
human efforts. When required efforts are put in according to the required standard of
performance, then and only then, Allaah helps Muslims in the areas that are beyond human
power.

The next three verses remind believers not to be deceived by the disbelievers’ apparent success
but remain focussed on their eternal success by continuing to maintain Taqwa of Allaah SWT
by working hard for the objectives of Islamic mission.

196
Let not the hustle and bustle of the disbelievers in the land deceive you. 197
It is but a brief enjoyment! Then their abode will be Hell, which is an awful
staying-place. 198 On the other hand, for those who maintain Taqwa of their
Lord are Gardens with rivers flowing beneath; therein they will dwell forever -
- a welcome reception from Allaah; and that which is with Allaah is the best
for the faithful.

One of the major themes of this soorah was to identify the evils and deviations being practised
by the people of the Book. As noted before, whenever the Noble Qur-aan criticizes evil
behaviour of a group of people, it always clearly identifies and acknowledges those who do not
possess the criticized behaviour so that no one uses the criticism of the behaviour to stereotype
that group of people. It does not want people to associate certain behaviour with any
identifiable group. Rather it wants to identify only the evilness of behaviour and the
philosophy, mentality or paradigms that cause people to practice that kind of behaviour.
The next verse identifies people who are exception to the previous criticized behaviour and
appreciates their adopting the right attitude and right behaviour.

199
And there are, certainly, some People of the Book who believe in Allaah
and what has been sent down to you and what has been sent down to them,
humbling themselves before Allaah, not selling Allaah’s revelations for a
paltry price. It is them who have their reward with their Lord; surely Allaah is
prompt in reckoning.

They are those who were from the people of the Book but because of their right attitude and
paradigms, they became Muslims.

The last verse of the soorah captures the essence of the guidance that was provided to the
believers throughout the soorah so that they can succeed in attaining the objectives of Deen.

200
O you who believe! Persevere in patience and constancy; vie in such
perseverance; be equipped, alert and ready; and have Taqwa of Allaah so that
you may be successful.

It indicates four qualities that are required for a believer to succeed. The word used for success
is Falaaĥ that, as explained earlier, represents success in doing one’s best for attaining the
objectives of Deen.

The first one is Ŝabr. It means continuing to work with full vigour for the objectives
steadfastly, consistently and constantly regardless of the hindrances, difficulties, dangers and
hardships encountered on the way. The second is Muŝaabarah -- practising more Ŝabr than
your opponents or vying for perseverance. The Muslims should compete with each other in
determination and steadfastness (Ŝabr) to far exceed the steadfastness of disbelievers. The third
one is Murabataah -- being equipped, alert and ready to encounter the enemies and to fulfill the
assigned tasks for the Islamic mission as well as supporting each other to do so. The fourth one
is Taqwa that has been explained several times previously. The point to remember is that no
Islamic action is worth anything without having Taqwa behind it. Taqwa must be a constant
part of everything a Muslims does.

These are four critical success factors for attaining the Islamic objectives.