5. Al-Maaida

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.

The bearers of divine scriptures in later periods developed the belief that they were the special people of God and that whatever they did, they would not have to face any reckoning. In the teachings of God, there are clear statements against such beliefs, but they became blind and deaf to them. They built around themselves such barriers of self-made beliefs and fictitious stories that God’s warnings went unnoticed. The history of the Jews shows that whenever a community bearing the scriptures was made to suffer subjugation by its ‘enemies’, this was designed as a testing period for it. Light punishment administered to the community was meant to awaken its moral sense. If feelings of devotion to God were then aroused in its members, there was a cessation of the punishment, but if this did not happen, God rejected them, cast them away and did not turn His attention towards them ever again. Almighty God granted Jesus the power to perform extraordinary miracles. This was done so that people should recognize him as a prophet and have faith in him. But it turned out otherwise. Jesus had been sent by God purely for the guidance of the people, but looking to his miracles, the Christians developed the belief that he was God and that God was incarnate in him. The Jews for their part ignored him, relegating him to the position of a magician and conjurer. While the latter group rejected him, the former group was inspired by him to establish polytheistic beliefs.

Only that Being can be worth worshipping who is Himself not dependent on anybody and who has the power to benefit or harm others. Food is the most significant symbol of man’s dependence. One who is dependent for his food is dependent about everything. One who takes food is a completely dependent being. How can such a being be God? The same is true of conferring benefits or inflicting harm. Somebody’s receiving benefits or suffering harm are events which require the co-ordination of universal factors for them to come into effect. No ordinary human being is capable of organizing such universal factors. Therefore, no human being can elevate himself to a position where he may be treated as worthy of worship. When a man makes somebody the centre of his veneration and love, the underlying feeling is that that ‘somebody’ enjoys a high status in this world of God and that he will be helpful to him before God. But all such hopes are false. In this world of test and trial, the fact that all except God are helpless is not absolutely clear. That is why man suffers from such a misapprehension. But in the Hereafter, when the truth is revealed, man will see that, except for God, all the supports on which he had relied were absolutely valueless.

Only that Being can be worth worshipping who is Himself not dependent on anybody and who has the power to benefit or harm others. Food is the most significant symbol of man’s dependence. One who is dependent for his food is dependent about everything. One who takes food is a completely dependent being. How can such a being be God? The same is true of conferring benefits or inflicting harm. Somebody’s receiving benefits or suffering harm are events which require the co-ordination of universal factors for them to come into effect. No ordinary human being is capable of organizing such universal factors. Therefore, no human being can elevate himself to a position where he may be treated as worthy of worship. When a man makes somebody the centre of his veneration and love, the underlying feeling is that that ‘somebody’ enjoys a high status in this world of God and that he will be helpful to him before God. But all such hopes are false. In this world of test and trial, the fact that all except God are helpless is not absolutely clear. That is why man suffers from such a misapprehension. But in the Hereafter, when the truth is revealed, man will see that, except for God, all the supports on which he had relied were absolutely valueless.

Only that Being can be worth worshipping who is Himself not dependent on anybody and who has the power to benefit or harm others. Food is the most significant symbol of man’s dependence. One who is dependent for his food is dependent about everything. One who takes food is a completely dependent being. How can such a being be God? The same is true of conferring benefits or inflicting harm. Somebody’s receiving benefits or suffering harm are events which require the co-ordination of universal factors for them to come into effect. No ordinary human being is capable of organizing such universal factors. Therefore, no human being can elevate himself to a position where he may be treated as worthy of worship. When a man makes somebody the centre of his veneration and love, the underlying feeling is that that ‘somebody’ enjoys a high status in this world of God and that he will be helpful to him before God. But all such hopes are false. In this world of test and trial, the fact that all except God are helpless is not absolutely clear. That is why man suffers from such a misapprehension. But in the Hereafter, when the truth is revealed, man will see that, except for God, all the supports on which he had relied were absolutely valueless.

Only that Being can be worth worshipping who is Himself not dependent on anybody and who has the power to benefit or harm others. Food is the most significant symbol of man’s dependence. One who is dependent for his food is dependent about everything. One who takes food is a completely dependent being. How can such a being be God? The same is true of conferring benefits or inflicting harm. Somebody’s receiving benefits or suffering harm are events which require the co-ordination of universal factors for them to come into effect. No ordinary human being is capable of organizing such universal factors. Therefore, no human being can elevate himself to a position where he may be treated as worthy of worship. When a man makes somebody the centre of his veneration and love, the underlying feeling is that that ‘somebody’ enjoys a high status in this world of God and that he will be helpful to him before God. But all such hopes are false. In this world of test and trial, the fact that all except God are helpless is not absolutely clear. That is why man suffers from such a misapprehension. But in the Hereafter, when the truth is revealed, man will see that, except for God, all the supports on which he had relied were absolutely valueless.

In the eyes of Jesus’s early disciples ‘Jesus was a man who was from God.’ They considered him a human being and a prophet. When his religion spread out from Syria, it had to encounter the philosophy of Egypt and Greece. Such persons accepted Christianity and entered the Christian fold as were under the influence of the philosophic thought of the time. As a result of internal causes and external factors, a new era began in Christianity when efforts were made to describe Christianity in the prevalent philosophic style of the times. In the civilized world of those days, the philosophers of Egypt and Greece were dominant. Their thinking greatly influenced the intelligentsia of those days. The Greek philosophers had formed an imaginary concept of the universe. They used to interpret reality on three levels—existence, life and knowledge. Christian theologians were themselves impressed by these ideas and wanted to attract the intellectuals of the times towards Christianity. They tried, therefore, to mould their religion on the lines of current thinking. They offered an interpretation of Christianity which directly related it in essence to the aforesaid three levels. They hoped that in so doing the people could equate Christianity with their own way of thinking and accordingly accept it. They said that religious reality also manifested itself in the ‘Trinity’. ‘Existence’ was the ‘Father’, ‘Life’ was the ‘son’ and ‘knowledge’ was the ‘Holy Spirit’. In order to complete the religion thus interpreted, many ideas were imported into it, for example, the belief that Jesus was the embodied manifestation of kalam (word). After the descent of Adam every human being had become a sinner and God’s son had to atone for this by acquiescing in his own crucifixion, etc. In this way, in the fourth century A.D., having been moulded to fit Egyptian, Greek and Roman concepts, what is now known as Christianity came into being.

Frequently the reason for a people’s deviation from the right path of God is that they have been impressed by the thoughts of communities which have gone astray and seek to emulate them; while accepting the religion of God, they interpret it in such a way that it appears to be in consonance with current thinking. Thus, in the name of God’s religion, they adopt an ungodly religion. The Christians adapted their religion to the ideas of polytheistic communities and described it as God’s favoured religion. Sometimes this happens, when religion is cast in the mould of national aspirations. An example of this second type of deviation is presented by the Jews. They interpreted God’s religion in such a way that it should legitimize their worldliness. For Muslims there is no scope for inserting such interpretations in the text of God’s Book. But outside the text, they are free to follow the example of previous communities. Faith makes a man sensitive about transgression and evil. When he sees anyone committing transgression or indulging in evil, he becomes perturbed and immediately wants to prevent him from behaving in this way. He relates to evil people in terms of separation and not of friendship. But when his faith weakens, he remains sensitive only about his own self. Now, only that which adversely affects his own self-interest appears to him to be evil. He remains neutral about the evils which are directed towards others.

Frequently the reason for a people’s deviation from the right path of God is that they have been impressed by the thoughts of communities which have gone astray and seek to emulate them; while accepting the religion of God, they interpret it in such a way that it appears to be in consonance with current thinking. Thus, in the name of God’s religion, they adopt an ungodly religion. The Christians adapted their religion to the ideas of polytheistic communities and described it as God’s favoured religion. Sometimes this happens, when religion is cast in the mould of national aspirations. An example of this second type of deviation is presented by the Jews. They interpreted God’s religion in such a way that it should legitimize their worldliness. For Muslims there is no scope for inserting such interpretations in the text of God’s Book. But outside the text, they are free to follow the example of previous communities. Faith makes a man sensitive about transgression and evil. When he sees anyone committing transgression or indulging in evil, he becomes perturbed and immediately wants to prevent him from behaving in this way. He relates to evil people in terms of separation and not of friendship. But when his faith weakens, he remains sensitive only about his own self. Now, only that which adversely affects his own self-interest appears to him to be evil. He remains neutral about the evils which are directed towards others.

The Children of Israel faced this downfall, but that did not stop them from making self-righteous utterances and the elect among them went on making fine speeches. But they were not serious about rushing to intervene when they saw somebody indulging in tyranny and evil, or about trying to prevent such actions. David (Dawud) said of the Children of Israel of his period that not one of them was righteous, and from his discourses it is clear that the Jews used to talk peace with their neighbours, describing the law of God and reaffirming their pledge to God, when their hearts were actually full of ill intent. Jesus likewise castigated the Jews of his time, calling them hypocritical scholars who had usurped the dwellings of widows, while at the same time prolonging their prayers. He lamented the fact that they paid the tithes of mint leaves, anise and cummin seeds, while ignoring the weighty provisions of the shariat, i.e. justice, mercy and faith. He called them ‘blind guides’ who ‘strain at a gnat and swallow a camel’. He scorned them for being apparently righteous, while from within they were entirely hypocritical and faithless. (Matthew 23). The Jews did as Jesus said—they used to describe the law of God, offer prolonged prayers and paid their tithes from their crops. But all that was purely lip service. They used to carry out harmless commands with a show of piety, but when the question arose of treating others with justice, or when they were required to have mercy on a down-trodden person, or when there was the need to crush self-interest in order to carry out God’s command, then they used to be guilty of backsliding. And if anyone pointed out their mistakes, they became his enemies. It was such behaviour which caused them to incur God’s wrath and curses.