In the Shade of the Qur'an by Sayyid Qutb

This whole passage serves as a complement to the efforts undertaken in this sūrah to keep faith pure and to purge it from all the errors and deviations Christians have introduced. They forced their faith away from its Divine origins and fundamental principles when they diverted it from belief in the absolute oneness of God. That was the belief preached by Jesus (peace be upon him) and by every former messenger of God. They introduced into it certain aspects of disbelief which had nothing to do with Divine faith.

As such, this passage aims to establish the truth about Godhead and servitude to God, as these are conceived by Islam. This truth is presented through a great scene portrayed here in which Jesus states in front of all God’s messengers and all humanity that he never said to his people anything of what they have alleged that both he and his mother were deities. He declares that he could have never said any such blasphemy.

The sūrah presents this truth in a vivid scene taken from the Day of Judgement in the same way as the Qur’ān presents various scenes of that great day. In all such presentations, the picture is portrayed in such an inspiring, vivid and effective way that we almost see it before our very eyes. We are moved by each such scene as though it were taking place here and now. We see what is taking place, hear what is being said and feel every reaction and response. So, what does this scene at the end of this sūrah present?

On the day when God will gather all [His] messengers and ask them, “What response did you receive?” they will answer, “We have no knowledge. Indeed, it is You alone who has full knowledge of all that lies beyond the reach of human perception. (Verse 109)

Those messengers were sent at different times to their respective people, each going his own way to his city or village, and belonging to different races and nations, all preaching the same message to their communities. Then, the last of them, Muĥammad, is given a single message addressed to all people of all races in all generations. Those messengers are gathered together by the One who sent them individually, and as they come together they bring with them the different responses they received. Now, in this scene, those messengers, representing humanity throughout its life span on earth, come together and stand before God, the Lord of all mankind on an awesome day.

The scene is full of life: “On the day when God will gather all [His] messengers and ask them: `What response did you receive?” (Verse 109) Today, everything is brought together, and messengers account for their messages. The results are declared before all humanity.

“What response did you receive?” Messengers are human. They know what they see and feel with their senses, but they have no knowledge of what lies beyond. They had called on their peoples to follow Divine guidance. Some responded positively while others turned away. A messenger does not know the full truth about a person responding positively, even though he may know the truth of the one turning away.

He can only tell by appearances; it is God who knows the full truth and what is concealed. Those messengers are now in the presence of God and, among all human beings, they know God best, fear Him most and are too modest to speak out, in His presence, on the basis of their limited knowledge when He knows all.

This is an awesome interrogation, on the day when all creatures are gathered, the Supreme Company is present and all humanity is looking on. This is a confrontation, when all humanity is put face to face with the Messengers, and especially the unbelievers who are now arrayed before those Messengers to whom they used to lie.

Then the declaration is made that those noble messengers simply preached the Divine faith, and that they are now in His presence stating what happened to their messages and giving an account of the reaction of their communities which denied them. Those messengers declare that true knowledge belongs to God alone.

Whatever they knew should not, in all modesty and humility, be stated by them to God whose knowledge is perfect, absolute. “They will answer: ‘We have no knowledge.

Indeed, it is You alone who has full knowledge of all that lies beyond the reach of human perception.’“ (Verse 109)

Those messengers who were sent before the time of Jesus were believed by some people and denied by others. Their account is thus completed with this general answer that they give, leaving all knowledge to God and putting the whole matter into His hands. Hence, the sūrah adds nothing here about them. The address is made to Jesus alone, who was a total wonder to his people. It was Jesus who was surrounded with mystery and around whom all sorts of myth and superstition have circulated. A great deal of confusion has been made about his qualities, nature, birth and end.

The account given in this sūrah addresses Jesus, son of Mary, in front of all those who attributed to him Divine status, worshipped him and weaved around him and his mother all sorts of exaggerated stories. The address reminds him of the grace God bestowed on him and on his mother, enumerating the miracles God gave him to help people to believe in his message. Yet some people denied his message most violently, while others were dazzled with the miracles he was given. On account of such miracles they elevated him to the status of a deity, when all miracles are given by God, who created him, gave him a message and supported him.

God will say: ‘Jesus, son of Mary! Remember the blessings which I bestowed on you and your mother: how I strengthened you with the Holy Spirit, so that you could speak to people in your cradle, and as a grown man; how I instructed you in the Book and in wisdom, in the Torah and in the Gospel; how, by My leave, you fashioned from clay the figure of a bird and breathed into it so that, by My leave, it became a living bird; how, by My leave, you healed the blind man and the leper, and, by My leave, restored the dead to life; how I prevented the Children of Israel from harming you when you came to them with all evidence of the truth: when those of them who disbelieved declared: ‘This is plain sorcery.’ And when I inspired the disciples to have faith in Me and in My Messenger; they said: ‘We believe; and bear you witness that we have surrendered ourselves [to God].” (Verses 110-111)

Here we have a full account of the various aspects of grace bestowed by God on Jesus and his mother, Mary. To start with, he was supported by the Holy Spirit in his infancy. Then, he was talking to people long before children normally start to talk, absolving his mother of all suspicion raised around her on account of his miraculous birth that had no parallel in history. He also talked to them later when as a grown man he was again supported by the Holy Spirit, Gabriel. He was also given knowledge of the Book and wisdom. He was born without knowledge of reading and writing, but God gave him that knowledge, as He imparted to him wisdom in order to deal with different situations in the best way. God also taught him the Torah which had been given to the Children of Israel and the Gospel which God gave him to confirm the Torah.

Furthermore, God gave Jesus several miraculous things that no human being could accomplish without God’s support. Thus, he could fashion a bird shape of clay and breathe into it, and all at once it became a living bird. How did this happen? We do not know, because we still do not know how God creates life. Moreover, he adds quality to life: he cures a person born blind, by God’s leave, when medicine does not know how to give eyesight to such a person. God, who gives human beings their faculty of seeing, is able to open a blind person’s eyes to see the light. Jesus also cured the leper without using any medicine. Medication is merely a tool for accomplishing God’s will of curing a patient, but the One who has willed to cure the patient is able to change the tools by which He accomplishes His purpose, or to achieve it without any tool. Again Jesus is able to restore life to the dead, by God’s leave. The One who initiates life is able to restore it at any tune.

God further reminds Jesus of His favours when He extended His protection to him against the Israelites who, when he produced all these miracles, denied him claiming that they were plain sorcery. On the one hand they did not wish to deny the miracles, witnessed by thousands of people, and yet they were too stubborn to submit to the message they imparted. God protected him and they were unable to kill or crucify him, as they were keen to do. God simply gathered him and elevated him to Himself.

Another reminder to Jesus speaks of how God inspired the disciples to believe in Him and His Messenger, Jesus, and they do so, appealing to him to bear witness to their acceptance of the faith and total self-surrender to God. “And when I inspired the disciples to have faith in Me and in My Messenger; they said: ‘We believe; and bear you witness that we have surrendered ourselves [to God].’“ (Verse 111)

All these were favours God, out of His grace, gave to Jesus to serve as clear proof of his status and message. Many of his followers, however, used them erroneously, deviating from the truth and fabricating falsehood. Here Jesus is reminded of all these in the presence of the Supreme Company and in front of all mankind, including those people who exaggerated his status and attributed to him what was not his.

When these favours are held in front of him, those who gave him a status far beyond his own humanity will see and hear, and, in consequence, they will be humiliated in the full sight of all humanity.

In addition to the favours bestowed on Jesus and his mother, the sūrah relates some of the favours God granted to his followers, and the miracles with which God supported him, as seen by his disciples.

The disciples said: “Jesus, son of Mary! Can your Lord send down to us a repast from heaven?” He answered: “Fear God, if you are truly believers.” Said they: “We desire to eat of it, so that our hearts are reassured and that we know that you have spoken the truth to us, and that we may be witness of it.” “God, our Lord,” said Jesus, son of Mary, “send down upon us a repast from heaven: it shall be an ever- recurring feast for us — for the first and the last of us — and a sign from You. And provide us our sustenance, for You are the best provider” God replied: ‘I am sending it down to you.

But whoever of you disbelieves after this, I shall inflict on him suffering the like of which I have not inflicted on anyone in the world.” (Verses 112-115)

This dialogue reveals to us something about Jesus’s people, and the elite among them, i.e. his disciples. What we find is that they differed greatly from our own Prophet’s Companions. Those were the disciples inspired by God to believe in Him and His Messenger, Jesus, son of Mary. They did so and called on Jesus to witness the fact of their faith. Yet even after all the miracles they saw Jesus performing, they still requested another miracle so as to reassure themselves about his truthfulness and to bear witness about it to those who would succeed them.

Muĥammad’s Companions, on the other hand, never asked him for a single miracle after they had accepted the faith and submitted themselves to God. Their hearts were full of faith, once they had experienced the happiness and joy of it. They believed God’s Messenger and asked him for no more proof of the truth of his message. They testified to his truthfulness with no miracle shown to them other than the Qur’ān.

Such is the wide gulf between Jesus’s disciples and Muĥammad’s Companions (peace be upon them both). Theirs are two widely different levels; yet both have submitted to God, and both are accepted by Him, if He so pleases. But their levels remain wide apart.

The story of the Repast, as told in the Qur’ān, is not mentioned in Christian Scriptures. It is not reported in the Gospels written long after Jesus. Thus, they cannot be taken as a reliable statement of the truth revealed by God Almighty. These Gospels are only reports by saints of the story of Jesus. They are not the text of the Gospel, or the Injīl that God revealed to Jesus.

However, these books include a different report on the Repast. In 15: 32 of Matthew, the following report is given: “Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, ‘I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.’ The disciples said to him, ‘Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?’ Jesus asked them, ‘How many loaves have you?’ They said, ‘Seven, and a few small fish.’ Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowd. And all of them ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. Those who had eaten were four thousand men, besides women and children.” Similar reports are given in other Gospels.

Some scholars of the generation following the Prophet’s Companions, i.e. Tābi`īn, like Mujāhid and al-Ĥasan, believe that the Repast was not sent down. They say that when the disciples were afraid at hearing God’s statement, “I am sending it down to you. But whoever of you disbelieves after this, I shall inflict on him suffering the like of which I have not inflicted on anyone in the world.” (Verse 115), they no longer asked for it to be granted.

In his commentary on the Qur’ān, Ibn Kathīr quotes several statements by scholars. He quotes Mujāhid as saying: “This was merely a parable given by God, but nothing was sent down.” Another quotation by Mujāhid says: “They were offered a table full of food, but they refused it when they were told that they would be severely punished should they disbelieve. They did not want to have anything to do with it.” Al-Ĥasan also expresses the view that it was not sent down. He is reported to have said: “When the disciples were told, ‘Whoever of you disbelieves after this, I shall inflict on him suffering the like of which I have not inflicted on anyone in the world,’ they said, ‘We have no need for it.’ Thus, it was not sent down.” The majority of early scholars, however, agree that it was sent down, because God said: “I am sending it down to you.” God’s promise always comes true. We, therefore, take only what the Qur’ān has stated concerning the Repast.

Thus, God reminds Jesus, son of Mary, of His favours when he stands in front of his people on the Day of Judgement, with all creatures looking on: “The disciples said:

Jesus, son of Mary! Can your Lord send down to us a repast from heaven?’“ (Verse 112) The disciples, the closest to Jesus of all his followers, were aware that he was a human being, born to Mary. They address him according to his status, which they knew very well. They knew that he was neither a son of God nor a deity, but a servant of God.

They also knew that it was his Lord who accomplished all those miraculous events through him. He himself could not do any of them by his own initiative. Hence, when they requested a further miracle, they did not ask him to accomplish it himself, because they were aware that he could not do so. Their question was: “Jesus, son of Mary! Can your Lord send down to us a repast from heaven?” (Verse 112)

Interpretations vary as to the nature of their question. How is it that they would use such a form of question when they had already declared their belief in God and asked Jesus to witness their submission to Him? One interpretation of their question is that it did not seek to know God’s ability, but rather whether He would give them the repast. Another view considers the question to mean, “would your Lord respond to you if you were to request Him to send down a repast?” Other interpretations are also given.

Be that as it may, Jesus warned them against asking for miracles, because believers do not ask for them: “He answered: ‘Fear God, if you are truly believers.’“ (Verse 112) But Jesus’s disciples repeated their request stating their reasons for requesting it and what they hoped to achieve, should it be granted. “Said they: ‘We desire to eat of it, so that our hearts are reassured and that we know that you have spoken the truth to us, and that we may be witness of it.’” (Verse 113)

What they wanted was that they should eat of such food which no human being on earth could ever taste. They would have heart-felt reassurance as they would see the miracle being enacted in front of their eyes. They would know then that Jesus had told them only the truth. This would make of them witnesses to the truth of this miracle so that none of their people could ever deny it. All these reasons confirm that the level of those disciples was well below that of Muĥammad’s Companions, who were of a totally different mould.

At this point Jesus addressed his appeal to his Lord: “God, our Lord,” said Jesus, son of Mary, “send down upon us a repast from heaven: it shall be an ever-recurring feast for us — for the first and the last of us — and a sign from You. And provide us our sustenance, for You are the best provider.” (Verse 114)

We note in Jesus’s supplication how he makes his address with all the humility of a servant whose Lord has honoured him. He first makes it clear that he recognises Him, saying, “God, our Lord!” Then he states his appeal, requesting Him to give them a repast that would bring them joy and goodness, so as to be like a festival for everyone of them. He acknowledges that it would all be provided by God, the best of all providers. Jesus is thus shown to recognise his own status as a servant of God and to recognise God’s status as Lord of all the worlds. This is shown in front of all mankind, particularly his people on that great and eventful day.

God answers the prayer of his good servant, Jesus son of Mary, but with the seriousness that befits His majesty. They asked for a miracle, and He will give them the miracle they requested, on condition that He will severely punish anyone who continues to disbelieve after the miracle is granted. Indeed that punishment will surpass in severity any other punishment inflicted on any other of God’s servants.

“God replied: I am sending it down to you. But whoever of you disbelieves after this, I shall inflict on him suffering the like of which I have not inflicted on anyone in the world.’“ (Verse 115)

This seriousness is important, so that requests for miracles are not made as idle talk. Moreover, those who ask for proof and continue to disbelieve after they have been given what they have asked for must not go unpunished. It has been God’s law, applicable to all past communities, that those who continued to deny the messages preached by God’s messengers after the miracles were given them were annihilated.

In this instance, however, the statement may mean that they would be punished here in this life, or in the life to come.

The sūrah does not follow the account of the Repast after stating God’s warning. It moves on to deal with the central issue of Godhead and Lordship, which permeates the whole passage. We go back now to that great scene which continues to be held up for all onlookers. We listen now to a straightforward questioning about the Divinity claimed for Jesus and his mother. The person now interrogated is none other than Jesus, facing those who worshipped him. They listen to him as he, surprised and amazed, disclaims before his Lord all knowledge of such a grievous sin they attach to him. He is, indeed, innocent and it is all fabrication:

And God will say: Jesus, son of Mary! Did you say to people, ‘Worship me and my mother as deities beside God?” [Jesus] answered: “Limitless are You in Your glory! I could never have claimed what I have no right to [say]! Had I said this, You would certainly have known it. You know all that is within myself whereas I do not know what is in Yourself. Most certainly, it is You alone who fully knows all that lies beyond the reach of human perception. Nothing did I tell them beyond what You bade me [to say]: `Worship God, who is my Lord and your Lord.’ I was witness to what they did as long as I lived in their midst. Then when You took me to Yourself, You have been watching over them. You are indeed a witness to all things. If You punish them, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, You are indeed Almighty, Wise.” (Verses 116-118)

Limitless is God in His glory! He knows very well what Jesus said to people. But this worrying interrogation on that fearful day is intended for people other than the one to whom it is addressed. Putting it in this form adds to our abhorrence of the attitude of those who attributed Divinity to Jesus, God’s noble and great servant. For anyone of God’s servants to claim to be God, knowing that he is no more than a servant of God, is indeed a horrible offence that no normal human being could perpetrate. Is it conceivable, then, that one of God’s messengers who were granted the strongest resolve should perpetrate it? Or is it even conceivable that this perpetrator should be Jesus son of Mary, when God gave him all those favours before and after he was chosen to bear His message? How does he feel when questioned about this claim of Godhead, when he is a good servant of God?

Hence, his answer is tinged with awe and fear. He starts by glorifying God and follows this immediately with an absolute denial of any such thoughts or of any such claims: “[Jesus] answered: ‘Limitless are You in Your glory! I could never have claimed what I have no right to [say]’!” (Verse 116) In his own defence, he seeks God as witness to his innocence of such claims. He owns to his humble position of being only a servant to God who has all attributes of the Godhead. “Had I said this, You would certainly have known it. You know all that is within myself whereas I do not know what is in Yourself. Most certainly, it is You alone who fully knows all that lies beyond the reach of human perception.” (Verse 116)

Now, after having made this long praise of God, he is able to state what he did and did not say, declaring that he said nothing to his community other than calling on them to worship God alone, and stating that, like them, he is no more than God’s servant. “Nothing did I tell them beyond what You bade me [to say]: `Worship God, who is my Lord and your Lord.” (Verse 117)

He then disclaims any responsibility for what they did after the end of his time on earth. Taken at face value, the Qur’ānic text means that God gathered Jesus then elevated him to Himself. Some reports indicate that he is alive with God. In my view, there can be no contradiction between the two situations; for God may have determined that Jesus had completed his term of life on earth, and He may have taken him so that he be alive with Him. Martyrs die and finish their lives on earth, but they are alive with God. We do not know what form their life with God takes, nor do we know what form of life Jesus has; but he says here to his Lord that he does not know what they did or said after he was gathered from life on earth: “I was witness to what they did as long as I lived in their midst. Then when You took me to Yourself, You have been watching over them. You are indeed a witness to all things.” (Verse 117)

He concludes with leaving the fate of his people absolutely to God, stating at the same time that they are His servants and at His disposal. God is able to forgive them or to punish them. Whether He decides on one course or the other, that decision is based on His wisdom, which operates in the same measure whichever fate He determines for them. “If You punish them, they are Your servants; and if You forgive them, You are indeed Almighty, Wise.” (Verse 118) This is all that Jesus, a model servant of God, says in this awesome position.

But where are those who invented such grave falsehood about Jesus in this whole scene? The sūrah does not mention them once. They may be feeling their ignominy and wish not to show themselves. We, therefore, leave them where the sūrah has left them. We will only look now at the final part in that remarkable scene:

“God will say: ‘This is the day when their truthfulness shall benefit all who have been truthful. Theirs shall be gardens through which running waters flow, where they will abide forever. God is well pleased with them, and they are well pleased with Him. That is the supreme triumph.’“ (Verse 119) The appropriate comment on the falsehood fabricated by liars against the noble Prophet Jesus, concerning the most serious issue of all, i.e.

the issue of Godhead, is to state that truth will be of great benefit to its upholders on that awesome day. “This is the day when their truthfulness shall benefit all who have been truthful.” This is God’s word at the end of that interrogation beheld by all creatures. It is the final and decisive word. It is coupled with the reward that befits truthfulness and those who are truthful: “Theirs shall be gardens through which running waters flow, where they will abide forever. God is well pleased with them, and they are well pleased with Him.” (Verse 119) Each of these phrases represents a grade above the previous one: the gardens with running waters, the everlasting abode there, the fact that God is pleased with them, and their pleasure with what they receive from Him. Hence the description, “That is the supreme triumph.” (Verse 119)

We have looked at this scene as it is portrayed in the unique style of the Qur’ān and we have paid attention to the final word. We say that we have seen and paid attention because the Qur’ānic method of portraying scenes and images does not leave it as merely a promise to be fulfilled or sentences and phrases to be read or heard. The Qur’ān makes of it something to excite feelings and something to behold as if it were taking place now. However, if it is, as far as we human beings are concerned, a future event to be witnessed on the Day of Judgement, it is, for God’s perfect knowledge, a present reality. Time and the screen of the future apply to us, not to God.

At the end of this passage and in contrast to the greatest falsehood ever perpetrated by the followers of any messenger, i.e. the falsehood of Christ’s Divine nature, which he himself denounces and leaves all decision about which to God alone, a statement of truth is made. It provides the final note in the sūrah, declaring that dominion over the heavens and the earth and all that they contain belongs to God, the Lord of the universe who has full control over all things. Nothing limits His power: “To God belongs all sovereignty over the heavens and the earth and all they contain.

He has the power over all things.” (Verse 120)

This is the finale that suits the great question around which that terrible fallacy has been woven. It is an ending that fits that majestic scene where God is seen to be the One who has all knowledge, Godhead and all power. To Him alone all messengers turn, putting all matters in His hands. Indeed, to Him Jesus son of Mary assigns judgement in his own and his people’s affair. He is Almighty, Wise, the Sovereign over the heavens, the earth and all they contain. It is a fitting conclusion to the sūrah which discusses the meaning of religion, showing it to be the implementation of only God’s law, receiving guidance from Him alone and judging only on the basis of His revelations. Since He is the Sovereign, He is the One to judge, for final judgement belongs to whomever has sovereignty: “Those who do not judge according to what God has revealed are indeed unbelievers.” (Verse 44)

It is all one and the same issue: Godhead, the Oneness of God, and judgement on the basis of His guidance.