9. At-Tawba

God has invariably ruled that when a community has had his divine call directly conveyed to it by a prophet, its right to exist is taken away from it if, after all the necessary preaching and argumentation has been done, it persists in its wrongful approach, just as in a state, an individual forfeits his right to live if his being a rebel is established. But as far as other groups are concerned, they are to be dealt with as is deemed proper and in accordance with normal international principles.

In these verses, God has announced His firm resolve to keep His religion completely safe till Doomsday. When Almighty God settled human beings on the earth, He furnished them with His Guide Book. Later, when people fell into the ways of neglect and worldliness, they changed the words of God to suit their desires. For example, presuming their great revered men to be mediators with and recommenders to God, they adopted the belief that whatever they did, their holy men would, on the strength of their recommendation, be their saviours before God. They also believed that heaven or hell existed right there in the present world and that there was nothing beyond this world. Whatever the people themselves wanted, they attributed it to God and wrote it in God’s Book. Thereafter, God sent another prophet who rid the divine religion of all man-made impurities and presented it again in its true form. Subsequent generations made changes in that as well. This happened again and again. Finally, Almighty God decided to send a final Prophet, and through him create such conditions that the religion of God should remain safe in its original form forever. This task—the greatest in the history of prophethood—was achieved through the Prophet Muhammad. At the time when the Prophet Muhammad appeared, many self-made religions had been devised. The polytheists of Arabia had a religion which they called the religion of Moses. The Christians had a religion which they called the religion of Jesus. These were all concocted editions of God’s religion, and had been wrongly claimed to be the religion sent by God. God rejected all these religions and established the religion revealed to Prophet Muhammad as the sole authentic edition of His religion which would remain valid until Doomsday. Today Islam is the only religion in the text of which no changes could be made. Islam is the only religion which is historically authentic. Islam is the only religion whose teachings are found in a living language. The candle lit by God in the shape of Islam has never been dimmed or extinguished. It is there in its entirety before the world, maintaining its ideological superiority over all other religions.

In these verses, God has announced His firm resolve to keep His religion completely safe till Doomsday. When Almighty God settled human beings on the earth, He furnished them with His Guide Book. Later, when people fell into the ways of neglect and worldliness, they changed the words of God to suit their desires. For example, presuming their great revered men to be mediators with and recommenders to God, they adopted the belief that whatever they did, their holy men would, on the strength of their recommendation, be their saviours before God. They also believed that heaven or hell existed right there in the present world and that there was nothing beyond this world. Whatever the people themselves wanted, they attributed it to God and wrote it in God’s Book. Thereafter, God sent another prophet who rid the divine religion of all man-made impurities and presented it again in its true form. Subsequent generations made changes in that as well. This happened again and again. Finally, Almighty God decided to send a final Prophet, and through him create such conditions that the religion of God should remain safe in its original form forever. This task—the greatest in the history of prophethood—was achieved through the Prophet Muhammad. At the time when the Prophet Muhammad appeared, many self-made religions had been devised. The polytheists of Arabia had a religion which they called the religion of Moses. The Christians had a religion which they called the religion of Jesus. These were all concocted editions of God’s religion, and had been wrongly claimed to be the religion sent by God. God rejected all these religions and established the religion revealed to Prophet Muhammad as the sole authentic edition of His religion which would remain valid until Doomsday. Today Islam is the only religion in the text of which no changes could be made. Islam is the only religion which is historically authentic. Islam is the only religion whose teachings are found in a living language. The candle lit by God in the shape of Islam has never been dimmed or extinguished. It is there in its entirety before the world, maintaining its ideological superiority over all other religions.

One way of taking wealth from others is by doing so rightfully, i.e. one may offer real service to another or give him some real benefit and then take money from him in return. This is perfectly legitimate. The wrongful way of taking the wealth of others is to obtain it by deceiving them. This latter way is illegitimate and invites God’s wrath. Taking others’ wealth wrongfully is that action which is known as exploitation in modern times. The ancient religious leaders indulged in the large-scale exploitation of the general public. They spread false stories among the people to ensure that they entertained extraordinary hopes of holy persons and, treating them as holy persons, would seek their blessings, and present them with offerings and gifts. In the name of service to religion they used to extract money from people, though the faith they presented to the people was their own brand of religion and not at all that which was sent down by God. They used to collect huge donations in the name of the revival of the community. Whatever they did on this pretext aroused false hopes, so that they could maintain their leadership. They even used to attribute mysterious qualities to the charms and talismans which they prepared and then sold to the people, though they themselves did not rely on these charms in their own crucial affairs. There are only certain legitimate uses of the wealth received by man—spending on his actual needs and giving away for the cause of God whatever is surplus, i.e. exceeding his actual needs. Any ways of spending other than these two will lead to retributive punishment for man—whether he spends his money lavishly or hoards it. Those who have established their leadership in a group on the basis of a self-made religion and exploit people in the name of God’s religion abhor the call for truth which attempts to revive the true and unadulterated religion of God. Within the framework of such a religion, it seems to them that their religious position would lose credibility. They feel that if this religion prevails among the people, their religious trading might come out into the open and be publicly unmasked. As soon as such a movement is set in motion, they come to know of it and set about opposing it.

One way of taking wealth from others is by doing so rightfully, i.e. one may offer real service to another or give him some real benefit and then take money from him in return. This is perfectly legitimate. The wrongful way of taking the wealth of others is to obtain it by deceiving them. This latter way is illegitimate and invites God’s wrath. Taking others’ wealth wrongfully is that action which is known as exploitation in modern times. The ancient religious leaders indulged in the large-scale exploitation of the general public. They spread false stories among the people to ensure that they entertained extraordinary hopes of holy persons and, treating them as holy persons, would seek their blessings, and present them with offerings and gifts. In the name of service to religion they used to extract money from people, though the faith they presented to the people was their own brand of religion and not at all that which was sent down by God. They used to collect huge donations in the name of the revival of the community. Whatever they did on this pretext aroused false hopes, so that they could maintain their leadership. They even used to attribute mysterious qualities to the charms and talismans which they prepared and then sold to the people, though they themselves did not rely on these charms in their own crucial affairs. There are only certain legitimate uses of the wealth received by man—spending on his actual needs and giving away for the cause of God whatever is surplus, i.e. exceeding his actual needs. Any ways of spending other than these two will lead to retributive punishment for man—whether he spends his money lavishly or hoards it. Those who have established their leadership in a group on the basis of a self-made religion and exploit people in the name of God’s religion abhor the call for truth which attempts to revive the true and unadulterated religion of God. Within the framework of such a religion, it seems to them that their religious position would lose credibility. They feel that if this religion prevails among the people, their religious trading might come out into the open and be publicly unmasked. As soon as such a movement is set in motion, they come to know of it and set about opposing it.

Religious commandments can be carried out by everyone individually. But it is required by Almighty God that all the people of Faith should perform them together, so that a collective spirit is created in them. For the purpose of promoting this collectivism, definite timings and dates have been fixed for the performance of the religious rites of prayers, etc. Had these dates been appointed according to the solar calendar, there could have been uniformity in the time of their occurrence. For example, the days of fasting would always have come in one particular season and likewise Hajj. But, whereas uniformity creates inertia in man, change introduces new inspiration for action. Therefore, the natural lunar calendar has been adopted to provide the basis for the collective pattern of religious matters. On account of this principle, the dates of Hajj (pilgrimage) fall in different seasons —sometimes in summer and sometimes in winter. In ancient times when the congregation for Hajj was most important from the commercial point of view, the occurrence of Hajj in different seasons appeared to be harmful. Worldly considerations appeared to the Arab people more important than religious imperatives. They wanted to adopt a system by which Hajj would fall in one suitable season. At that time they came to know of the adjustments possible in the calculation (kabisa) of the Jews and Christians. They approved of this, as it was exactly according to their wishes, and they therefore adopted it. This meant displacing months and replacing one month by another, for example, replacing the month of Safar by the month of Muharram and vice versa. ‘Fight the polytheists all together, as they fight you all together.’ This means that just as the infidels unite on their refusal to fear God, the Muslims should unite on their fear of God (taqwa): If they join together for negative purposes, the Muslims should join together for positive ends. If they become one for the sake of the world, the Muslims should become one for the sake of the Hereafter.

These verses were revealed while the Prophet was at Tabuk (9 Hijra). At this juncture the behaviour displayed by the hypocrites (munafiqun) of Madinah gives us an idea of the role played by people of fickle faith when they join the Islamic society. In reality there are two stages of connection with Islam. In one, all of man’s loyalties become attached to Islam; it becomes a question of life and death for him. In the other, man’s real interests are elsewhere and he only superficially accepts Islam. In the first category are the real believers—the people of faith. In the second are those known, in the terminology of the Shariah, as munafiq (hypocrites). The condition of the believer is that he steadfastly holds to Islam in normal circumstances as well as at times when sacrifice is required. By contrast, the hypocrite seems to be very much to the fore in making a show of his religiousness, when Islam makes no special demands on him, but as soon as he has to fulfil demands of Islam at the level of sacrifice, he backs away.

These verses were revealed while the Prophet was at Tabuk (9 Hijra). At this juncture the behaviour displayed by the hypocrites (munafiqun) of Madinah gives us an idea of the role played by people of fickle faith when they join the Islamic society. In reality there are two stages of connection with Islam. In one, all of man’s loyalties become attached to Islam; it becomes a question of life and death for him. In the other, man’s real interests are elsewhere and he only superficially accepts Islam. In the first category are the real believers—the people of faith. In the second are those known, in the terminology of the Shariah, as munafiq (hypocrites). The condition of the believer is that he steadfastly holds to Islam in normal circumstances as well as at times when sacrifice is required. By contrast, the hypocrite seems to be very much to the fore in making a show of his religiousness, when Islam makes no special demands on him, but as soon as he has to fulfil demands of Islam at the level of sacrifice, he backs away.

The ‘second of two’ is an allusion to the prophet’s immigration, in the company of Abu Bakr, from Makkah to Madinah in the year 622 A.D. The reason for this difference is that the true believer keeps the goal of the Hereafter before him, and does not set a higher value upon the things of this world, than upon the eternal bounties of the Hereafter. So if anything of a worldly nature impedes him, he ignores it and proceeds towards the goals of religion. Unlike him, the hypocrite likes that type of Islam in which, without damaging one’s worldly interests, one gets the credit for Islamism. Therefore, whenever an occasion arises when he has to lose the world for Islam, he tilts towards the world, even if in this process, he loses his grip on the rope of Islam. The struggles between Islam and non-Islam that arise from time to time in the present world are between two groups, but in reality it is an affair of God. On every such occasion, God Himself supports Islam. This is expressed in the shape of a cause-and-effect event, so that the credit of doing service to religion may be given to those people who have completely surrendered themselves to God.