5. Al-Maaida

There were certain of the Jews of Madinah who were impressed by Islam. Moreover, considering the increasing domination of Islam, they did not want to incur its open enmity. Although in their hearts these people were steadfast in the religion of their forefathers, they used to make a show of being believers by their utterances. Such people forget that their dealings are not actually with any human being but with God, and God is the Being who knows what is inside one’s heart. When He deals with anyone, it will be based on reality and not on any words which that person chose to utter to protect his own interests. There were two types of prominent Jews—one the rabbis and the other the holy men. The latter were ahbar, i.e. scholars and interpreters. Both types remained busy day and night in the work of religion, for their leadership was propped up solely by religious work and they received substantial amounts in the name of religion. But, the real secret of their leadership and public acclaim was their presentation of a popular version of religion rather than the true religion favoured by God. They spoke and acted ostensibly for the sake of religion, but in reality their words and deeds were worldly-wise. Worse, they gave to the people, in the name of religion, whatever they wanted for themselves, knowing full well that in actuality those things were unconnected with religion.

The favoured religion of God is that of taqwa (fear of God). In other words, a man should live in society in such a way that he utters no words of sin; in his activities he should avoid forbidden ways and he should behave with entire fairness towards those with whom he has dealings. But a man’s selfishness puts him on the path of world-worship; he wants to lead a life in which he is not troubled by having to distinguish between right and wrong, and in which he needs to worry only about his own worldly interests. The general run of the Jewish people mindlessly trod this path of self-centredness. This being so, it was the duty of the foremost among them to alert them to their wrongdoing and to wean them away from this course. Instead of this, they reached a tacit understanding with the common people. They started disseminating among them a particular type of religion which guaranteed their salvation and promised them a high status, without their having to change their actual way of living in any way. These prominent people did not disturb the current lives of the common people, but used to recite to them false stories of the supremacy of the Jewish community; giving a religious colour to their communal events and conveying to them the glad news that they only had to repeat a number of ritual actions and palaces would be built for them in paradise. Before God, it is the most evil deed to disseminate this type of religion among the people, in which change in their actual lives is not required, and to delude them into thinking that, by publicly performing certain showy rites, their entry into paradise will be guaranteed.

The favoured religion of God is that of taqwa (fear of God). In other words, a man should live in society in such a way that he utters no words of sin; in his activities he should avoid forbidden ways and he should behave with entire fairness towards those with whom he has dealings. But a man’s selfishness puts him on the path of world-worship; he wants to lead a life in which he is not troubled by having to distinguish between right and wrong, and in which he needs to worry only about his own worldly interests. The general run of the Jewish people mindlessly trod this path of self-centredness. This being so, it was the duty of the foremost among them to alert them to their wrongdoing and to wean them away from this course. Instead of this, they reached a tacit understanding with the common people. They started disseminating among them a particular type of religion which guaranteed their salvation and promised them a high status, without their having to change their actual way of living in any way. These prominent people did not disturb the current lives of the common people, but used to recite to them false stories of the supremacy of the Jewish community; giving a religious colour to their communal events and conveying to them the glad news that they only had to repeat a number of ritual actions and palaces would be built for them in paradise. Before God, it is the most evil deed to disseminate this type of religion among the people, in which change in their actual lives is not required, and to delude them into thinking that, by publicly performing certain showy rites, their entry into paradise will be guaranteed.

In the Quran, when stress was laid on spending in charity for God’s sake and when people were urged to give gratuitous loans to God, the Jews made this the subject of ridicule. They used to say that God is a pauper and his subjects are rich; God’s hands are empty these days. They knew full well that God was above suffering a shortage of anything; so such statements were not directed against God, but against the Prophet and the Quran, and were meant actually to show that the Prophet was not the true Prophet and that Quran was not the Book of God. According to them, had the Quran truly been sent down on behalf of God, its content would have been quite different. But those who hold forth in this way only prove that they are devoid of the spirit of real religion; they are living in a state of insensitivity. When the Jews refused to accept the guidance offered by the Quran, it was not a simple refusal. It was actually a claim that they already enjoyed salvation and did not need any further guidance. An extreme type of egotism develops in people who have such a conceited mentality. In their dealings with others, even in their everyday lives, they are not prepared to give up their ego. As a result, the whole of society falls a prey to mutual differences and enmity. The call of a prophet is that man should also adopt that religion of obedience to God which has already been adopted by all things of the universe. This means keeping a peaceful balance in the world (islah). Now, those who place impediments in the way of the prophetic call seek to create a disturbance in this world of God. However, man has the freedom only to deal with his own inner turmoil. Nobody has that right over another’s fate.

The root cause of all waywardness is man’s reckless bravado. But once a man fears God, he immediately understands the power emanating from Him and his bravado vanishes. His fear of God immediately makes him grasp what is God’s will, and he there and then accepts it. All impure impulses are thus driven out. When a man makes himself wholly attentive to God, he thereby becomes entitled to God’s attention. That is, God washes away all his human weaknesses and, after his death, He lodges him in the flourishing gardens of paradise. It is man’s psychological weaknesses which are the evils preventing him from advancing on the way towards paradise, but with the help of God, one can overcome such weaknesses and ultimately reach the goal of eternal bliss. Whenever the call for Truth goes out, those who enjoy positions of prominence in the prevailing system feel perturbed. They fear that by complying with it, their economic interests and high positions will be jeopardized. But, such an attitude is only the result of their narrow-mindedness. Such people forget that what they are faced with, and which they fear, has appeared only to test their entitlement to God’s blessings: the decision about their worthiness to receive His blessings will depend not on their self-centred devices, but on their receptiveness to the call for Truth. In other words, their rejection of it, in the interests of retaining their high status, is the very act which, in God’s eyes, rules out their ever meriting His favour. It invariably happens in the case of those communities that are the bearers of Divine Scriptures that, by making additions to or deletions in the original, they form a self-made religion; and after a long passage of time, its members become so familiar with it that they consider it to be the true religion of God. Given this history, when the straightforward and true religion of God is presented to them, they find it unfamiliar and become perturbed by it. This was the condition of Jews and Christians. So, a large majority of them failed to be impressed by the truth of Islam. Only a few people, such as Najashi (Negus) the King of Abyssinia and ‘Abdullah ibn Salam, etc,. who were already on the path of moderation, immediately understood the truth of Islam. They came forward to embrace Islam, as if they had already been moving in this direction and, simply in order to maintain the continuity of their journey, they had joined the caravan of Muslims.

When the Prophet Muhammad appeared in Arabia , it was not the case that there was nobody professing religion there at that time. The whole of Arabian society was founded on religion. It was in the name of religion that many people had assumed positions of prominence and leadership. Being holders of high religious positions was the symbol of a high status in society and something to be proud of. In spite of this, the Prophet had to endure the worst type of opposition from the people of Arabia. The reason for this was the prevalence among them of a new self-made religion which had usurped the real religion of God. In this region, centuries of tradition had resulted in the formation of various seats of power and centres of vested interests. This being the situation, when the Prophet gave a call for pure religion, the people felt that it was damaging to their religious status. They were afraid that once this pure religion took root, the old religious order which had given them prominent status would be destroyed. Such a state of affairs is very hard on the preacher of the word of God. Openly pursuing his religious activities becomes equivalent to struggling against the established religious authorities of the time. He feels that if he makes no compromises in propagating true religion, he shall have to face the most severe reaction; he will be ridiculed; he will be degraded; he will become impoverished, violent action will be taken against him; and he will be deprived of all assistance and support. Now he has two ways open to him. He can either take worldly considerations into account, in which case successful communication of the word of God appears impossible. Or he can ignore  the constraints of worldly considerations, in which case in fulfilling his responsibilities, God’s promise of help will assist him to concentrate. God promises that if he focuses fully on preaching, His help will be enough in case of any difficulties created by the addressee community. The purveyor of God’s will should simply trust in God. The reaction of the addressee community is natural and the preacher has to face it at all events. But its sphere is limited to the scope of God’s Law relating to the trial of man. It can never happen that opponents gain control of the situation to the extent of stopping the preacher’s work or preventing its completion. Achieving the target of such work is the plan of God. So, it will inevitably be completed. Thereafter, acceptance by the addressee group is its own responsibility, and can be effective only to the extent the addressees desire.

The members of the Jewish community, thriving on stories of the excellence of their community and the supposed holiness of their elders, had not subjected themselves and their personal affairs to the will of God. Moreover, as a result of wishful thinking, they were convinced of their salvation before God. But their wishful thinking had no value in His eyes, for they were not ruled by His religion. What actually carries weight with God is being punctilious about carrying out His commandments and founding one’s life on His religion. When people who indulge in wishful thinking and false hopes are confronted by the message that, before God, it is intentions and deeds that carry weight and not wishes and false hopes, they react strongly against it. In this call they see the demolition of their castles in the air and this imagined state of affairs becomes a trial for them. It follows that they become strong opponents of such a call. Their self-centredness, hidden in the garb of showy devotion to God, comes out into the open. While they should have taken Divine nourishment from this call for Truth, they are instead spurred on by it to disbelief and arrogance. The generations succeeding the early followers of the prophets of ancient times gradually assumed the shape of a regular group or community. They no longer followed the examples set by the prophets; instead they perpetuated legends eulogizing their past glories and supremacy. Every group began to regard itself as the best of all, believing that their salvation was certain and that their status before God was the highest of all. But the fact is that such groupist religions have no value in the eyes of God. Every individual’s case will be separately presented before God and the decision about his future will be wholly based on his own deeds and not on any other basis. Upholding the Book of God means having full faith in God; being overwhelmed by the fear of the Hereafter; and leading a life of a righteous character among one’s fellow human beings. This is the true religion and everybody is required to adopt it in his way of living. The community blessed with the Book of God has great merit in the world so long as its members adopt God’s true religion. On deviating from this they become completely undeserving before God—even less meritorious than open deniers and polytheists.

The members of the Jewish community, thriving on stories of the excellence of their community and the supposed holiness of their elders, had not subjected themselves and their personal affairs to the will of God. Moreover, as a result of wishful thinking, they were convinced of their salvation before God. But their wishful thinking had no value in His eyes, for they were not ruled by His religion. What actually carries weight with God is being punctilious about carrying out His commandments and founding one’s life on His religion. When people who indulge in wishful thinking and false hopes are confronted by the message that, before God, it is intentions and deeds that carry weight and not wishes and false hopes, they react strongly against it. In this call they see the demolition of their castles in the air and this imagined state of affairs becomes a trial for them. It follows that they become strong opponents of such a call. Their self-centredness, hidden in the garb of showy devotion to God, comes out into the open. While they should have taken Divine nourishment from this call for Truth, they are instead spurred on by it to disbelief and arrogance. The generations succeeding the early followers of the prophets of ancient times gradually assumed the shape of a regular group or community. They no longer followed the examples set by the prophets; instead they perpetuated legends eulogizing their past glories and supremacy. Every group began to regard itself as the best of all, believing that their salvation was certain and that their status before God was the highest of all. But the fact is that such groupist religions have no value in the eyes of God. Every individual’s case will be separately presented before God and the decision about his future will be wholly based on his own deeds and not on any other basis. Upholding the Book of God means having full faith in God; being overwhelmed by the fear of the Hereafter; and leading a life of a righteous character among one’s fellow human beings. This is the true religion and everybody is required to adopt it in his way of living. The community blessed with the Book of God has great merit in the world so long as its members adopt God’s true religion. On deviating from this they become completely undeserving before God—even less meritorious than open deniers and polytheists.

God had taken the pledge of faith and obedience from the Jews through Moses. They fulfilled this pledge for just a few days. Thereafter, their behaviour started deteriorating. Then, God raised reformers among them to remind them of their pledge. But their waywardness and arrogance went on increasing. They went to the extent of silencing the admonishers themselves, and killed many people. When their arrogance went beyond all limits, God caused them to be subjected to the rule of Nebuchadnezzar, the ruler of Babylon and Nineveh (Iraq). He attacked and destroyed their holy city of Jerusalam in 586 B.C., and enslaving the Jews, he took them to his country as bonded labour. After this event, the hearts of the Jews were softened and they sought God’s pardon. Now, God helped them through Cyrus (the King of Iran) who captured their area in 539 B.C. by attacking the Chaldeans and defeating them. Thereafter, he freed the Jews from their exile and allowed them to go back to their country and settle there. Now, the Jews got a new lease of life and progressed considerably, but after a very short time they once again fell into the ways of recklessness and arrogance. Again, God warned them through prophets and reformers, but they did not come to their senses. They went to the extent of killing John (Yahya) and also a man whom they understood to be Jesus. Now, the wrath of God broke loose on them and, in the year 70 A.D., they were defeated by the Roman Emperor, Titus, who attacked their country and destroyed them. After this, the Jews could never stand on their own.