In the Shade of the Qur'an by Sayyid Qutb

This passage re-endorses the issues elaborated upon in Chapter 8. It was the Prophet’s own people who rejected his message although it was the very truth.

Hence, all relations between him and his people were severed. He is instructed to declare to them that he could not be responsible for their erring ways. He had to leave them to their inevitable destiny. He is further instructed not to sit with them when they engage in idle talk about religion, taking it as a sport and fun, showing no due respect to it. His instructions are very clear: he has to remind and warn them, convey his message to them and explain to them what they will have to face on the Day of Judgement. However, he must realize that although they are his people, they belong to two different nations. No considerations of nationality, race, clan or family are of much value in Islam. It is faith that causes relationships to be established or severed. When the bond of faith is established all other bonds may establish their roots. When the bond of faith is severed, however, no other ties can be established.

Your people have rejected this [i.e. the Qur’ān], although it is the very truth. Say: I am not responsible for you. (Verse 66)

The passage starts with an address to God’s Messenger (peace be upon him)

which gives him and all believers who follow him complete confidence and reassurance that his message is the very truth. His people may persist in rejecting it and describing it as lies. This should not, however, affect him in any way. His people are not to arbitrate on this. The final word belongs to God. He states that this message is the truth. Hence, its rejection by any group of people is of no consequence.

God then instructs His Messenger to dissociate himself from his people, making his attitude clear to them. He is also to inform them that he has no say over their fate.

Neither is he responsible for their behaviour, nor can he guide their hearts. That is not up to him. Once he has conveyed to them his message, he has discharged his duty and he has to leave them to their inevitable destiny. Everything comes to its appointed end, and they will come to know the result of their efforts: “Every piece of news has a time set for its fulfilment, as you will come to know.” (Verse 67) Although this is a very general statement, providing no details, it is nonetheless intimidating.

The believers have that reassurance imparted to them by their knowledge that what they follow is the very truth and that evil is doomed to failure, even though it may appear very powerful. They are confident that God will destroy those who deny His message, at the time He has appointed for them. They realise that what God has said will undoubtedly come true, and that every living thing is certain to meet its destiny. The advocates of Islam who face a similar rejection from their own people and who are made to feel as though they are strangers among their own families and who, as a consequence, endure much hardship and endless affliction need such confidence and reassurance and this the Qur’ān gives them in plenty.

The Prophet is further commanded not to sit with the unbelievers, even for the sake of explaining his message or reminding them of God and their need to believe in Him, especially if he finds them engaged in idle talk about divine revelations. If they talk about religion in any way other than with respect and seriousness, or make it, by word or deed, an object of fun, he must remove himself from their company.

If he were to do otherwise, his action could be construed as an implicit acceptance of what they do. Alternatively, it may be taken as a carelessness with the faith, when a Muslim should place his religion at the top of what he cherishes. Should he forget all this and sit with them, he must immediately upon remembering the correct approach rise up and leave their company: “Whenever you see those who indulge in vain discourse about Our revelations, turn away from them until they talk of other things. Should Satan ever cause you to forget, do not, once you remember, stay with such wrongdoing folk.” (Verse 68)

This order to the Prophet, which could be interpreted as applying to all Muslims, was issued in Makkah where the Prophet’s task was limited to the advocacy of his faith. At that time, the Prophet was not ordered to fight anyone. Indeed, the approach was to avoid all physical conflict with the unbelievers wherever that was possible. Nevertheless, the Prophet was ordered not to sit with them if they spoke disrespectfully of God’s revelations. Should he forget and sit with them, then, he should leave them immediately upon remembrance. All Muslims, according to some reports, were ordered likewise. The term, `wrongdoing folk’, used here refers to the unbelievers, as it is frequently used in the Qur’ān.

When Islam established its state in Madinah, the Prophet’s attitude towards the unbelievers was totally different. The Prophet could resort to every type of struggle, even war, in order to ensure that submission to God prevailed. No one was to be allowed to engage in idle talk or vain discourse concerning God’s revelations.

The sūrah then asserts the complete separation between believers and unbelievers, in the same way as this was established between the Prophet (peace be upon him)

and those who associate partners with God. Responsibilities are different and so are destinies: “Those who are God-fearing are in no way accountable for them. It is their duty, however, to admonish them, so that they may become God-fearing”. This means that there is simply no common responsibility between the God-fearing and the unbelievers.

They are two separate communities or nations, although they may belong to the same race and the same nationality. These considerations are of little consequence in God’s view. The God- fearing are a nation on their own, and the unbelievers are a totally different nation. Those who fear God share nothing of the burden of the wrongdoers and they are accountable for none of their deeds. They only try to remind them of their duty towards God in the hope that they follow suit and join their camp. If they continue to reject the faith based on God’s oneness, then there is nothing to share between the two camps.

This is indeed, the attitude of Islam as stated clearly by God. Anyone may choose a different stance, but he must know first that by so doing he abandons the divine faith altogether.

The sūrah continues to reiterate the complete distinction between the two communities, outlining the limits within which dealings and interactions may be conducted.

Stay away from those who, beguiled by the life of this world, take their religion for a pastime and a sport; but remind them with this (Qur’ān), lest every human being should be held in pledge for whatever he has done, when he shall have none to protect him from God, and none to intercede for him. If he were to offer any conceivable ransom, it shall not be accepted from him. Those are the ones who are held in pledge for what they have done. Scalding water shall they drink, and grievous suffering awaits them because they were unbelievers. (Verse 70)

This verse re-emphasises the distinction between the two communities, making several important points.

1. The Prophet, and indeed every Muslim, is commanded to ignore, by word and deed, those who treat religion as a pastime and as idle play. This description applies to anyone who does not give his faith respect by making it the basis of all aspects of his life: worship, beliefs, practices, moral values, and a legal code. It also applies to anyone who describes the principles and legislations of this faith in derogatory terms, such as those who ridicule the concept of ghayb, or believing in the world beyond the reach of human perception, which is an essential part of the Islamic faith. The same is the case with people who talk disrespectfully of zakāt which is one of the pillars upon which the structure of Islam is built, or describe morality and chastity as the values of rural and feudal societies, and those who speak disapprovingly of the Islamic rules of marriage, or describe as fetters the sort of guarantees God has given to Muslim women to help them maintain their chastity. It applies above all to those who deny God’s absolute sovereignty and His authority to legislate for human life in political, social, economic and legal fields, claiming that human beings may legislate for themselves without reference to God’s law. All those are included as ones who, `take their religion for a pastime and a sport’. Every Muslim is commanded to stay away from them except to remind them of their duty towards God. They are among the wrongdoers and unbelievers described in this verse as ones who are held in pledge for what they have done’.

They are threatened with having to drink boiling water and having to endure painful suffering for their disbelief.

2. The Prophet, and indeed every Muslim is further instructed to remind these people of God and warn them against being held in pledge and destroyed in consequence of what they have done. They are to be reminded that they cannot enjoy any support against God, and no one can intercede with Him on their behalf. No ransom will be accepted from them. The Qur’ānic style here is exceedingly beautiful and effective: “Remind them with this (Qur’ān), lest every human being should be held in pledge for whatever he has done, when he shall have none to protect him from God, and none to intercede for him. If he were to offer any conceivable ransom, it shall not be accepted from him.” (Verse 70) Every single soul will have to account for itself, without support, and when no ransom is of any use. As for those who have taken their religion in jest and been beguiled by the life of this world, they are already held in pledge for what they have done.

Their doom is sealed: “Those are the ones who are held in pledge for what they have done. Scalding water shall they drink, and grievous suffering awaits them because they were unbelievers.” The scalding water, which boils in their throats and stomachs, and the painful suffering which ensues are a fitting recompense for their ridicule of faith.

3. Speaking of the unbelievers, God describes them as ‘Those who take their religion for a pastime and a sport’. Is it truly their religion? This description fits perfectly those who declared their acceptance of Islam and then treated their religion as an object of ridicule. There were some people like that to whom the appellation `hypocrites’ was given, but they were in Madinah. Can the same statement apply to unbelievers who did not embrace Islam in the first place?

Well, Islam is the religion of all mankind, including those who do not believe in it, since it is the only faith God accepts from human beings ever since the revelation of the message preached by the Prophet Muĥammad, the last of all messengers. Hence, anyone who rejects it actually rejects his own faith. Hence, it is significant that the possessive pronoun is used in the beginning of this verse: “Stay away from those who take their religion for a pastime and a sport.” It is most probably, and God knows best, a reference to the fact that Islam is a religion for all mankind. Whoever makes fun of it, even though he may be an idolater, actually makes fun of his own religion.

We probably still need to explain who are meant by the term `idolaters’. They are those who claim that any being has a share of God’s attributes. This may take the form of believing in the existence of deities other than God, or offering worship and performing rituals to anyone other than God, or acknowledging the authority to legislate to anyone besides God. Needless to say, the term idolaters also includes those who claim for themselves any of these, however strongly they may profess to be Muslims. We should then be clear about who belongs to our faith.

4. The last point concerns the limits within which it is permissible to sit with the wrongdoers, or idolaters, and those who take religion as an object of fun and ridicule. As we have already mentioned, this is permissible only when it is done to remind them of divine faith and to warn them against disobeying God. It can have no other purpose. Once we realize that they engage in idle talk about God’s revelations or treat them as an object of ridicule we must leave their company immediately. In commenting on this verse, al-Qurţubī explains the rulings mentioned in the Qur’ān: “This verse provides an answer in God’s Book to anyone who claims that high standing Imams and their followers may have social contacts with wrongdoers, or may try to protect themselves by pretending to accept their views as correct.”23

Our view is that the Qur’ānic verse allows mixing with the wrongdoers in order to admonish and warn them, and to correct their erring views. Mixing with them and keeping quiet about what they say and do in order to protect ourselves is unacceptable, because it imparts an impression of accepting falsehood and rejecting the truth. In addition, it deceives people and degrades the divine faith and its advocates. Such a situation is totally unacceptable.

Al-Qurţubī quotes a few statements by other scholars: “Ibn Khuwayz Mindād says: `Anyone who engages in vain discourse about God’s revelations should be boycotted, whether he is a believer or an unbeliever. Our colleagues also disallow entry into the land ruled by the enemy or entry into their churches and temples, as well as mixing socially with unbelievers and those who invent deviant practices and claim them to be Islamic. It is also not permissible to be sympathetic to them or to argue with them. One of these inventors once said to Abū `Imrān al-Nakha`ī: “Let me say one word to you”. Al-Nakha`ī turned away, saying: “Not even half a word”. The same attitude was reported of Ayyūb al-Sakhtiyānī. Al-Fuđayl ibn `Iyād says: “If one loves a person who practises deviant inventions, God will cause his good actions to be wasted and will cause his conviction to be shaky. A person who gives his daughter in marriage to a deviant inventor is unkind to her, and one who mixes with such a person has no share of wisdom. If God knows a person to truly dislike deviant inventors, I hope He will forgive him his sins.” The Prophet is quoted by his wife, `Ā’ishah as saying: He who respects a person practising deviant inventions actually helps to destroy Islam’.24

All these statements speak about a person who practises deviant inventions, although he continues to believe in the divine faith. Needless to say, he is in a much better position than the person who claims for himself the attributes of Godhead by promulgating laws that are in conflict with divine law, or one who acknowledges his authority to do so. Such claims indicate total disbelief or polytheism. Early scholars did not have to deal with such situations after the establishment of Islam. No one made any such claims while saying at the same time that he was Muslim. This was unknown until the French occupation of Egypt under Napoleon when the majority of people turned their backs on their faith. Obviously, the statements of past scholars do not apply to the present situation which exceeds by far what they have described and the rulings they made concerning it.