135. " and they said: ` be jews or christians, you shall be
guided aright '.
say: ` nay ! rather the creed of abraham, the upright;
and he was not of those who associate partners to allah '."
136. " say: ` we have believed in allah and that which has been sent
down
to us, and (in) what was sent down to
abraham, ismail, isaac, jacob and the tribes;
and (in) that which was given to moses and jesus
and (in) that which was given to all prophets from their lord.
we make no distinction between any of them, and to him do we submit
'."
137. " if then they believe in what you believe,
they indeed are guided (aright); but if they turn away,
then they are clearly in schism; allah will suffice you against them;
he is the all-hearing, the all-knowing."
occasion of revelation
upon the
occasion of revelation
of these verses it is narrated fromibn abbas that some of the jewish scholars and some christians from
najran were disputing with the muslims. each of these two groups
considered their own creed more superior than the other's regarding
the truth, then they negated each other. the jews said that their
prophet, moses (a.s.), was superior and their book, the turah, was the
best. the christians, on the other hand, had the same claim. they said
jesus (a.s.) was the best guide and the evangel was the best among the
heavenly books. even though they could not settle their own disputes
between themselves, the followers of both creeds invited the muslims
to their own religion. the above verses were revealed and
answered them both. 1
commentary :
only our creed is
true !
egoism and self-conceit usually cause
one to think that truth is
exclusively his own and therefore, he considers others wrong. this very
person, consequently, tries to divert others to his own way of seeing
things, as the qur'an through the first verse of the above verses says:
" and they said: ` be jews or christians, you shall be guided aright'. ..."
tell them that distorted religions can
never be the source of
guidance, but:
"... say: ` nay ! rather the creed of abraham, the
upright; and
he was not of those who associate partners to allah '."
the true believers in pure faith are those
who follow the pure
monotheistic creed, i.e. the monotheism which has never been tainted
with any form of polytheism. the most important basic principle for
recognizing the pure religion from the corrupted ones is by keeping in
mind this very perfect creed of monotheism.
islam instructs us not to make distinction between the divine
prophets and to respect their religions totally because the fundamental
principles of all divine religions are entirely the same. moses (a.s.) and
jesus (a.s.) reinstituted the pure (hanif) doctrine of abraham (a.s.),
which is to live and die with faith in the one true god. they believed
in the non-polytheistic creed of abraham (a.s.), the pure monotheist,
although their religions were later contaminated with polytheism by
their ignorant followers. the jews, though they taught unity, went
after false gods, and the christians invented the trinity or borrowed it
from pagans. (of course, if they search for the pureness of truth, they
will realize that there is no difference between what their prophets
preached and what was brought forth by islam and that they, in
performing their duties today, should follow the divine creed of islam
which has come down from the direction of allah for this age).
concerning the statements of the muslims'
opponents, the next
verse enjoins the followers of islam thus:
" say: ` we have believed in allah and that which has
been sent down
to us, and (in) what was sent down to abraham, ismail, isaac,
jacob and the tribes; and (in) that which was given
to moses and jesus and (in) that which was given
to all prophets from their lord. ..."
"...we make no distinction between any of them,
and to him do we submit '."
self-conceit and tribal or racial
prejudices should never lie at the
root of our accepting some of the prophets and rejecting the others.
they were all divine teachers who spent their lives training and guiding
people in different eras of time. their aim was only to guide human
beings towards pure unity, truth, and justice, although each of them
had some particular duties and special qualifications related to their
own specific periods of time.
then it adds :
" if then they believe in what you believe,
they indeed are guided (aright); ..."
"... but if they turn away, then they are clearly in schism;..."
if they do not mix their racial and tribal
problems, and the likes of
them, with the religion, and formally accept all the prophets, they are
also guided, otherwise they have put away the truth and followed the
wrong.
the term / siqaq / originally means ` cleft, conflict, and fight ' and,
here, it has been rendered into ` blasphemy ', and sometimes into
`misleading ', or ` separation from truth and tending to falsehood ', all
of which, in fact, basically point back to the same fact.
some of the commentators have cited that when the former verse
was revealed whereby jesus (a.s.) was mentioned in a row with some
other prophets, some of the christians said that they did not agree with
that statement because jesus (a.s.) was not like other prophets; he was
the son of god. the last verse of the above verses was sent down 2 and
warned them that they were misguided and they were in schism.
however, at the end of the verse, it encourages the muslims not
to be afraid of the plots of enemies; saying:
"... allah will suffice you against them; he is the
all-hearing,
the all-knowing."
explanation :
the oneness of the
prophets' invitation
in several occasions, the holy qur'an points out that there is no
difference between the prophets of allah because all of them had
received the revelation from one single source and pursued one goal.
therefore, the qur'an enjoins the muslims to respect all of the divine
prophets equally. but, as it was stated before, this exhortation does not
conflict with the idea that every new religion sent down from allah
abrogates the former religions and islam is the last religion in the world.
of course, no religion on earth, except islam, has ever demanded
of its adherents to believe equally in the truthfulness and flawless
godliness, sinless purity of conduct and character of the other apostles
of allah and in the other sacred scripts as the revealed word of
allah. this command in islam was given because the divine apostles
were like some teachers and every one of them instructed the human
race as one class. it is evident that when the period and the course of
one class finishes, the trainees will be promoted to another teacher, to
a class of a higher degree. therefore, all nations are to fulfill the
requirements given by the last prophet of their times, which is the last
stage of the development of the religion in their period of time. this
statement will never contrast the rightfulness of the invitations of other
prophets.
who were ` asbat ' ?
the term / sebt / originally means: `
stretching, or expanding of
something easily '. a tree is sometimes called ` sabat ' because its
branches expand freely. the leading lexicologists expressly declare that
/ sebt / the plural of which is / asbat / includes sons' children and
daughters' children. 3
the meaning of the term / asbat /, here, is the groups and tribes of
israelites who came forth from jacob's twelve sons, and, since there
were some prophets among them, in the above verse they are counted
among those upon whom the divine verses have been sent down.
so, the objective meaning of the term, here, is the tribe of
israelites or the tribes of jacob's children who consisted of some
prophets, not all the children of jacob. some of those children were
not entirely eligible to be prophets because they committed sin in their
dealings with their own brother.
* * * *
the arabic term / hanif / is based on /
hanaf / with the meaning
` orthodox, true ', or ` inclined from misguidance to right opinion '. so,
those pure monotheists who turn away from polytheism and incline to
this basic principle, are called ` hanif '.
it is also for this reason that one of the meanings of / hanif / is
` true, straight '.
this explanation makes it clear that the meaning offered by the
commentators for the term / hanif / such as hajj, the pilgrimage to the
ka`bah, adhering to truth, following abraham (a.s.), and the pureness
of deeds, are all reflections of that inclusive meaning and each of them
is an example of it.