As the Qur’ān was being revealed, it undertook the process of establishing a new nation out of a great many scattered groups each steeped in their little corners of ignorance. After Islam remoulded their characters, the Muslims were led by the hand to a much higher human standard. They were then assigned their great role as the leaders of mankind. In this way, Islam set a completely new moral standard for its followers, one based on a clear conscience and a pure social set-up.

Once the new Muslim community had attained this standard, its superiority over the rest of mankind in personal and social morality was equal to its superiority in ideological concepts. The Muslim community was then able to accomplish, by God’s will, what He had determined for it, and to assume its role as custodian of the Divine system. It, thus, became a guide for mankind bringing them out of darkness into light, and providing them with an honest and caring leadership.

Superiority of moral standards makes a nation naturally fit for the role of leadership. It provides the right foundation enabling that nation to achieve a higher standard of civilisation and scientific advancement and to formulate a better economic and political system. Superiority in these matters comes as a natural result of superior beliefs and moral values. This is part of God’s natural law which applies to individuals and communities alike.

Part of this conscience purification process on individual and social levels is represented by the two opening verses in the present passage: “God does not love evil to be spoken openly unless it be by someone who has been truly wronged. God hears all and knows all. Whether you do good openly or in private, or pardon others for evil (done against you), God indeed absolves sin and He is Powerful.” (Verses 148-149)

By virtue of its sensitivity, society needs to establish a proper standard of social morality. A word said unwittingly and a rumour intended against only one person may have highly detrimental effects on society as a whole, its traditions, and values.

Unless checked by conscience and by the quality common to believers, namely, fear of God, it is very easy to use evil language, which inevitably leaves profoundly harmful effects on society. It often destroys mutual confidence among people, giving a general impression that evil has become commonplace. It also encourages those with evil tendencies to bring them out into the open. Since they are not the first to start evil, it already being widespread, they need not worry about any reaction.

Moreover, familiarity removes the initial shock effect of evil. People tend not to express their disgust at hearing evil words, or indeed, seeing evil acts, when these become widespread. No one will try to change an evil when it becomes commonplace.

Additionally, those who are accused of evil and around whom false rumours are spread actually suffer injustice. This is a direct result of the evil language being used.

Innocent people are grouped together with those who are guilty, accusations fly around, psychological and social considerations, which restrain people from using foul language and prevent evil action, become ineffective.

The fact is that the use of evil words starts in the form of individual accusations, but it leads to social corruption and moral chaos. No individual or group of people are given their due credit and people have no confidence in each other, when baseless accusations circulate and scruples are totally disregarded. For these reasons, God does not like the Muslim community to allow evil words to become common parlance. The only exemption in this regard is given to the one who suffers injustice.

He is allowed to repel this with a foul word with which he describes the person who has wronged him, within the context of what he has suffered: “God does not love evil to be spoken openly unless it be by someone who has been truly wronged.” (Verse 148)

In this case, speaking ill of someone, including using language which may be libellous, is no more than an attempt to remove the injustice and retaliation against some wrong that has been done to a particular person. It is no more than a denunciation of injustice and the wrongdoer, which allows the community to punish the latter and restore justice. This works as a deterrent against this sort of action so that it is not repeated either by the same person or others. It should be pointed out here, that those evil words which are allowed to be spoken openly originate with a particular person, who has been wronged, for a particular reason, and are levelled at one person in particular, the wrongdoer. The end purpose justifies the exemption given in this verse, namely, to restore justice to a person who has been wronged. To be sure, Islam does not allow libel in any form. It protects people’s reputation and integrity as long as they do not wrong others. If they do so, however, they relinquish their rights of protection.

The sūrah then moves on to speak about those people who received revelations from God prior to the advent of Islam. It then speaks about the Jews in particular and, at a later stage, about the Christians. It is well known that the Jews speak openly in evil terms about Mary and Jesus. They have no basis whatsoever for what they say against them. It is all their own fabrication. Their evil accusations are mentioned in this passage which links it to the two preceding verses in which God orders believers not to speak evil openly. The whole passage is part of the campaign conducted by the Qur’ān against the enemies of the Muslim community in Madinah. Similar parts of this campaign were given in this sūrah and the two preceding it. We will now discuss this campaign as it unfolds in this sūrah.

Those who deny God and His messengers, and want to make a distinction between [belief in] God and [belief in] His messengers, and say: “We believe in some but we deny others”, and want to pursue a path in-between those, in truth, are unbelievers.

We have prepared for unbelievers humiliating suffering. As for those who believe in God and His messengers and make no distinction between any of them — to them He will give their reward. God is indeed Much-Forgiving, Merciful. (Verses 150-152)

The Jews claimed that they believed in their prophets, but they denied the messages of Jesus and Muĥammad (peace be upon them). The Christians, on the other hand, believed in earlier prophets but stopped at Jesus, though they gave him a Divine nature. They, however, also denied the message of Muĥammad (peace be upon him). The Qur’ān denounces both groups, and explains that the proper and comprehensive concept of faith is based on believing in God and His Messenger, making no distinction between God on the one hand and His messengers on the other, or between the messengers themselves. Embracing such a wide view, Islam is then the only religion acceptable to God, because it emphasises the oneness of God and its practical effects on people’s lives and beliefs.

Believing in the absolute unity of God necessitates that we believe that the religion His messengers preached to mankind is also a single faith, and that His messengers who have been entrusted with conveying it to mankind belong to one group. Any denial of the unity of messengers or that the message itself is a single message, is a denial of the oneness of God and a misconception of what His oneness means. The religion and the code God has given to mankind come from the same source and share the same basis and essence. For this reason, those who wish to make a distinction between God and His messengers so that they profess to believe in God and deny His messengers and those who want to make a distinction between some messengers and others, believing in the former and denying the latter, are described as ones “who deny God and His messengers”. The two distinctions they want to draw represent a denial of them all.

Faith is one complete whole that cannot be divided into parts. To believe in God means to accept that He is One, which, by necessity, means that the religion and the constitution which He has devised to serve as a basis on which all human life is built is also a single religion. It implies that the messengers who have preached this religion in accordance with God’s will and His revelations are also a single unity.

Having established this basic principle of Islamic faith with regard to the truth of faith and unfaith, God’s messengers and their messages, the sūrah now refers to the attitudes adopted by the Jews on a number of occasions and how they openly spoke evil. It denounces their attitude towards the Prophet and his message, particularly their pigheaded demands asking him to provide them with signs and evidence proving his message. It compares this attitude to the one they adopted towards their own messenger, Moses (peace be upon him), and to their attitude towards Jesus (peace be upon him) and his mother, Mary. Their stance reveals that the Jews have always had the same nature over many generations. The Qur’ān speaks of the Jewish generation which opposed the Prophet and that which opposed Jesus and the one which opposed Moses in the past as one group, in this way emphasising the fact that they all shared the same nature.

The people of earlier revelations ask you to have a book sent down to them from heaven. They asked Moses for something even greater than that, when they said:

`Make us see God with our own eyes.” The thunderbolt smote them for this their wrongdoing. After that, they took to worshipping the calf even after clear evidence of the truth had come to them. Yet We pardoned them that, and We gave Moses clear authority. We raised Mount Sinai high above them in witness of their solemn pledge.

And We said to them: `Enter the gate, prostrating yourselves”; and We also told them:

`Do not break the Sabbath-law”; and We received from them a most solemn pledge.

(Verses 153-154)

The Jews living in the Arabian Peninsula took an openly hostile and rigid attitude towards Islam and the Prophet. They continuously schemed against Islam to try to bring about its downfall. Their attitude and scheming have been described in detail in the Qur’ān. We have also discussed certain aspects of it in Volumes I and II as also earlier in this volume. Now we have an explanation of other aspects of this attitude.

Adopting an overbearing manner, they demanded of the Prophet that he should bring them a written book sent down from heaven which they could touch with their own hands: “The people of earlier revelations ask you to have a book sent down to them from heaven.” (Verse 153)

God gives the answer on behalf of His Messenger, relating to him and to the Muslim community a chapter of Jewish history with their own Prophet, leader, and saviour, Moses, in whom they claimed to believe while denying the messages of Jesus and Muĥammad (peace be upon them all). This arrogance, then is not new. It was not characteristic only of that generation of Jews. Ever since the time of Moses, they have demonstrated their insensitivity, which has restricted their understanding to the material world only, and their stubbornness which has shown that they do not yield to the truth except under pressure. They have always been treacherous, breaking their covenants not only with people but also with their Lord. They are rude and impudent: they do not verify what is being said. Nor do they refrain from using evil words. They are always greedy, trying to lay their hands on other people’s property though they may have no rightful claim to it. They turn their backs on God and the reward He has in store for believers.

Having answered this boastful claim, the sūrah resumes outlining the causes behind their being forbidden certain things which they were previously permitted and the preparation of an even more humiliating punishment for them in the hereafter: “And for their disbelief and the monstrous calumny they utter against Mary, and their boast: ‘We have killed the Christ Jesus, son of Mary, God’s Messenger.’” (Verses 156- 57)

The fact of their being unbelievers is referred to every time one of their evil actions is mentioned. This has already been stated in conjunction with their killing of prophets against all right. Needless to say, no prophet could ever be killed rightly. It is merely a statement of fact that the killing of prophets is described as absolutely wrongful and unjust. Again, they are described as unbelievers in conjunction with the monstrous falsehood that they circulated against Mary. Essentially, they accused Mary, the pure, of adultery with Joseph the Carpenter. Accursed are they. They then boasted that they killed the Messiah and crucified him. They coupled this with derision at his statement that he was God’s Messenger.

At this point, the account is interrupted again in order to answer this claim by the Jews and to establish the truth concerning Jesus: “They did not kill him, and neither did they crucify him, but it only seemed to them [as if it had been] so. Those who hold conflicting views about him are indeed confused, having no real knowledge about it, and following mere conjecture. For, of a certainty, they did not kill him. No! God raised him up to Himself. God is indeed Almighty, Wise.” (Verses 157-158)

As regards whether Jesus was killed or crucified, the Jews and the Christians make false claims which have no basis other than in their own suspicions. The Jews claim to have killed him, ridiculing his assertion that he was God’s Messenger. The Christians, on the other hand, claim that he was crucified and buried. But they also claim that he was raised three days later. As for history, it states nothing about Christ’s birth or his end, almost as if nothing happened. When they make their statements, neither the Jews nor the Christians are certain of their truthfulness.

Events moved fast, and conflicting reports were made and muddled up. The real truth could not be discovered, except through Divine guidance.

The four Gospels which relate the story of the arrest, crucifixion, death, burial, and rise of Jesus Christ were all written after a lengthy lapse of time which also witnessed the persecution of Christianity and the Christians. In such an atmosphere of secrecy, fear and persecution, it is exceedingly difficult to be certain of the truthfulness of the reports that circulated. Many other Gospels were written during this period, but these four were chosen towards the end of the second century and were given official status for reasons that are not entirely above suspicion.

One of the many Gospels written in this period was that of Barnabas which gives an account of the story and crucifixion of Jesus that is at variance with the four recognised Gospels. It states: “When the soldiers, and Judas with them drew near to the place where Jesus was, he heard a large number of people coming close. In fear, he retreated to the home where all eleven disciples were asleep. When the Lord saw His servant in danger, He ordered Gabriel, Michael, Rafael and Oriel, His messengers, to take Jesus away from this world. The pure angels came down and carried Jesus through the window facing south and placed him in the third heaven in the company of angels who glorified the Lord forever. Judas entered violently the room from which Jesus was raised. All the disciples were still asleep. At that moment, God the Almighty accomplished a miraculous thing. Judas’s face and voice changed so that he looked like Jesus. We all thought that he was Jesus indeed. As for him, after he awakened us, he began to search for the teacher. We were surprised and said: You are our master and teacher. Have you forgotten us?” A scholar sifting his material carefully cannot find any confirmed account of this remarkable event that took place in the depths of the night, before the break of dawn.

The Qur’ānic text has still more to say about Christ, the position of the people of earlier revelations towards him and what they believed about him: “There is not one of the people of earlier revelations but will, at the moment of his death, believe in him, and on the Day of Resurrection he will bear witness to the truth against them.” (Verse 159)

Early Muslim scholars interpret this verse in different ways, according to the referent, in their view, of the pronoun in the phrase “his death”. Some maintain that every single person of the people of earlier revelations will inevitably believe in Jesus before his, i.e. Jesus’s death, considering that he will be back on earth before the Day of Resurrection. Other scholars maintain that every single one of the people of earlier revelations will, before his own death, believe in Jesus. This means that when this person is in the throes of death, he will be made to see the truth, when his own knowledge will no longer avail him. We are more inclined to take this second view. It means that the Jews who have denied Jesus and continued to deny his status, claiming to have killed and crucified him, will have this experience which tells them that Jesus was truly a messenger from God and that his message was the truth. They will then believe in Jesus but it will be too late for their belief to be of any benefit to them. On the Day of Resurrection, Jesus will be a witness against them.

Having established the truth about the alleged crucifixion, the sūrah resumes its account of the evil deeds perpetrated by the Jews, the punishment they have endured in this life and that which they will endure in the life to come: “So, then, for their wrongdoing of the Jews did We forbid them some of the good things of life which had been formerly allowed to them; and, indeed for their turning away often from God’s path, and for their taking usury although it had been forbidden to them, and their wrongful devouring of other people’s property. We have prepared for the unbelievers among them grievous suffering.” (Verse 160-161)

This statement adds to the list of evil deeds perpetrated by the Jews some very serious ones which were not mentioned earlier. This includes wrongdoing, turning away from God’s path, which they do all the time, and their accepting usury, not because of lack of knowledge, for they have been forbidden all forms of usury, but because they pay no heed to the instruction. The list also includes the fact that they devour other people’s property wrongfully, through usury and other methods. For all these wrong deeds and the others mentioned earlier, many of the good things of this world, which they have been permitted to enjoy, have subsequently been forbidden them. God has also prepared grievous suffering for those who disbelieve.

Thus, the nature of the Jews and their history is revealed. Their thinly disguised excuses for not responding favourably to the Prophet are laid bare. If they were stubborn with the Prophet, they had been stiff and stubborn with their own Prophet, leader and saviour. It is so easy for them to violate God’s laws and to speak ill of prophets and righteous people and indeed to kill them and boast about their crimes.

The sūrah continues its confrontation with the people of earlier revelations, particularly the Jews in this instance, condemning their attitude, particularly their rejection of the Prophet Muĥammad’s message and their false claim that God did not send him as a Messenger. It refers to the distinction they tried to draw between messengers and their arrogant demands for proof of this message in the form of a book sent to him, Muĥammad, from heaven. This sūrah states clearly that revelation to a messenger is not something new or strange. Indeed, it is the normal practice with all messengers since the time of Noah to that of Muĥammad. All of them have been sent as messengers bringing happy news and delivering strong warnings. This is an aspect of Divine mercy bestowed by God on His servants that they may have no argument to justify their disbelief. They have been amply warned before the Day of Judgement. All these messengers were sent for the same aim, and to convey the same message. Hence, to try to distinguish between them is an attitude smacking of arrogance and conceit. If people deny this fact, God bears witness to it, together with the angels. God is sufficient for a witness.

We have sent revelations to you just as We did send revelations to Noah and the prophets after him; as We sent revelations to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants, Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron and Solomon, and as We vouchsafed to David a book of Divine wisdom; and as [We inspired other] messengers whom We have mentioned to you previously, as well as other messengers whom We have not mentioned to you. And God has spoken His word directly to Moses. [These] were messengers sent to bring good news and to give warning, so that people may have no argument against God once these messengers (had come). God is Almighty, Wise.

(Verses 163-165)

It is then the same procession moving forward throughout human history, conveying a single message, bringing the same guidance to warn and to give a piece of happy news. It includes a group of chosen men like Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants, Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, Solomon, David, Moses, as well as others whom God spoke about to His Messenger in the Qur’ān and still others about whom He told the Prophet nothing. It is a procession which includes people from various nations and various countries, living at different times. Nothing gives any of them distinction over others. No consideration of race, nation, place, or time divides them. They all give the same guiding light, to warn and motivate, and they all try to lead human beings towards the light. This applies to those of them who were sent to a particular tribe, community, nation, city, country, or the one who was sent to all mankind, namely, Muĥammad, the last of all messengers.

Every one of them received revelations from God. None of them invented anything of his own accord. If Moses was spoken to directly by God, this was simply one aspect of revelation and none of us knows how it happened. The Qur’ān, which is the only authentic source we have on such matters, has not given us any details.

It should be clear in our minds that it is not for the human intellect to pass judgement on the principles laid down by religion. Nor can we judge through normal human reasoning the validity or otherwise of religious orders and prohibitions, or indeed decide whether to accept or reject them, after having ascertained their meaning and that they have been proclaimed by God. Had it been up to the human intellect to reject Divine legislation, because it disapproves of them or does not wish to respond to them, no punishment would have been incurred for rejecting the Divine faith after it was explained. Man is, indeed, required to accept religious teachings once he gets to know them through a proper source and has correctly understood their import.

When we say that this message of Islam addresses the human mind, we mean that it awakens our minds and directs us to use a proper method of evaluation. It certainly does not mean that it is up to our minds to judge whether the message of Islam is right or wrong, acceptable or unacceptable. Once we have an authentic statement, it provides the judgement to be obeyed and enforced, whether it sounds immediately acceptable or totally strange. We use our minds to understand the import of a particular statement, in accordance with linguistic rules and idiomatic usage. Once the import of a particular statement is ascertained, it remains valid and enforceable because it is a statement given by God. We cannot consider the human intellect a deity to evaluate and judge what has been given to us by God.

A great deal of confusion may occur here. Some people try to give the human intellect the role of a deity, giving it the power to judge the validity or otherwise of authentic religious instructions. Others try to minimise its importance and the role it plays in accepting the faith and following guidance. Neither attitude is correct. It is the middle attitude, which we have already explained, that is the proper and correct one. What it means practically is that man cannot put religious teachings against premises of his own, which he might have already developed on the basis of human logic, observations or experience. The proper attitude is that he should develop and establish his premises on the basis of correct and authentic religious statements.

These are certainly more correct than his own premises and rely on a more accurate system than his own.

It is perfectly acceptable that one intellectual understanding of a religious statement may be opposed by another. Once a statement admits more than one interpretation according to the principles and methodology approved by Islam, then no authority or individual can restrict people or compel them to follow a single interpretation or force on them one way of implementation. Again this is part of the meaning of our statement that the message of Islam addresses human intellect.

It is true that Islam is the religion of reason. This means that it does not use any supernatural power in order to make our minds submit to it. It explains its principles, judgements and teachings in a way that addresses our minds. It calls on us to contemplate and reflect on every aspect of creation within ourselves and in the universe at large. Such contemplation will undoubtedly point the way in the direction of accepting the faith. Thus, it attempts to free the human mind from the pressures of familiarity, continuity, laziness, as well as from desires that distract minds and distort human nature. Its address to the human mind means that man is not compelled to believe in what he cannot understand. It assigns to us the task of understanding the statements which express religious teachings. Once we have understood these, we have the choice of submission to them — and in this case we are believers — or denying them and becoming unbelievers. We cannot pass a judgement of validity or invalidity on separate religious statements. Nor do we have the right to accept or reject them. We cannot select and choose. Otherwise, we will be believing in part of the Divine message whilst denying other parts. Those who do this are described in the Qur’ān as unbelievers, and have been warned against grievous punishment. When God states something about the universe, man, creation, or religious teachings, His commandments must be obeyed and implemented by everyone who is aware of them and understands their import.

We need to consider from another angle the statement, “so that people may have no argument against God once these messengers had come”. (Verse 165)

It is indeed a great responsibility which has been assigned to God’s messengers, (peace be upon them all) and those who believe in their messages towards humanity.

For the destiny of mankind, in both this life and the life to come, depends primarily on the messengers and their followers. If they convey this message to people, as they are required to do, people may achieve reward and happiness in both this world and the next. Otherwise, they live in misery and deserve punishment.

When we describe this as a great responsibility, we are only making a statement of fact. Indeed God’s messengers have shown themselves to be keenly aware of the great importance of their task. God has pointed out to them the true nature of their responsibility. He made it clear to His last Messenger that the message he has been assigned is a weighty one, which he needed to prepare himself for: “O you enwrapped one, keep awake [in prayer] at night, all but a small part of one half of it, or make it a little less than that, or add to it; and recite the Qur’ān calmly and distinctly, with your mind attuned to its meaning. We shall bestow on you a weighty message.” (73: 1-5) “It is We who have bestowed from on high this Qur’ān on you, step by step, truly a bestowal from on high.

Await, then, in all patience your Lord’s judgement and pay no heed to any of them who is a wilful sinner or an ingrate; and bear in mind your Lord’s name at morning and evening and during some of the night, and prostrate yourself before Him, and extol His limitless glory throughout the long night.” (76: 23-6) It is this meaning which God makes clear to the Prophet and He commands him to make certain statements which show that he truly understands the message he has been given and its great importance: “Say; indeed no one could ever protect me from God, nor could I ever find a place to hide from Him, if I should fail to convey [to the world what has come to me] from God and His messages... He alone knows that which is beyond the reach of human perception, and to none does He disclose what He has chosen to keep to Himself of His unfathomable knowledge, unless it be to a messenger whom He has been pleased to elect... so as to make manifest that it is indeed only their Lord’s messages that these [messengers] deliver.” (72: 22-8)

The question then is that of mankind’s life, happiness and reward, indeed of existence itself. Either man accepts the Divine message when it is conveyed to him and implements it to achieve happiness in this life and in the life to come, or he rejects it and brings misery upon himself in both worlds. Alternatively, if no message has been conveyed to him, he has an argument to make against God. In this case, the responsibility for the misery he endures in this life lies fairly and squarely on those who have been assigned the task of conveying God’s message but who have failed to do so.

Before we conclude our comments on this verse, we need to reflect a little with our heads bowed in acknowledgement of God’s greatness, His knowledge of man, His fairness to him, as well as the care, mercy and grace He extends to him, despite his excessive ingratitude.

Let us first reflect for a moment on God’s thorough and perfect knowledge of man, his capabilities and potentials, as well as his inherent susceptibility to follow guidance or to go astray. It is on the basis of His knowledge of man that God has not left him to what his mind, the great gift He has given him, may dictate, even though it makes numerous and clear indicators which point out the way to faith. God knows that this great tool He has placed at man’s disposal may be influenced by man’s desires and that the indicators He has placed all over the horizon and within man himself may be screened from man, deliberately or through ignorance. Therefore, He does not hold man’s intellect responsible for following right guidance or for turning away from it until He has made it clear to him through His messengers. Moreover, even after such a clear message has been given, the task of devising a way of life is not assigned to man. What he is assigned is the implementation of the way of life laid down by God. Beyond that, God has given man a vast dominion to do with it whatever he likes, changing it as he pleases, and analysing it the way he wishes.

We should also reflect a little on the Divine justice which provides people with an argument against God, had He not sent them messengers to raise before them happy prospects and also to warn them against the pitfalls in their way. These messengers are sent in addition to all the indicators in the universe and within man, testifying to God’s oneness, His great creation, profound knowledge and infinite ability. Added to this is also the strong inclination of human nature to believe in God and to submit to Him. We should also remember in this respect the harmony between the indicators in the universe and the natural inclination and ability of man’s mind to collate information and arrive at conclusions. God, however, is fully aware of the weaknesses that may affect all these factors, clouding their work, bluring people’s vision and causing them to arrive at the wrong findings. Therefore, the pointers of the universe, human nature and intellect are not judged by God as sufficient on their own, unless He sends messengers to make sure that these instruments are not influenced by any foreign element as also to control their work according to the right standard shown in the Divine message. It is only when this is accomplished that the universe, human nature, and intellect will give the right and proper judgement. At this point in time, it becomes obligatory for people to submit to God and to obey Him. Their argument for not doing so is rendered futile and they, then, deserve punishment.

We must also reflect a little on the great care God takes of man and the grace He bestows on him, knowing, as He does, what weaknesses and shortcomings he may have. Nevertheless, He puts him in charge of the earth, which is, to man, a great kingdom, although it is no more than a little particle within God’s great dominion.

What we have said so far is sufficient to explain the clear feelings generated by the Qur’ānic statement: “[These] were messengers sent to bring good news and to give warning, so that people may have no argument against God once these messengers (had come). God is Almighty, Wise.” (Verse 165) We will now proceed with our commentary on the rest of this passage.

People however may deny that message for different reasons. People who have received earlier revelations from God through earlier prophets may deny the final message given to Muĥammad (peace be upon him), although it follows the same pattern of sending messengers to bring happy news to God’s servants and to warn them against disbelief. Those who received earlier revelations believe in the messengers who were sent before Muĥammad: the Jews acknowledged all messengers who came before Jesus (peace be upon him) and the Christians acknowledged all these as well as Jesus, to whom they attribute a Divine nature, as will be explained later. Addressing the Prophet, God consoles him for facing such rejection: “However it be, God [Himself] bears witness to the truth of what He has bestowed from on high to you: with His knowledge He bestowed it from on high; and the angels also bear witness to that; although God is sufficient as a witness.” (Verse 166)

This testimony by God and the angels, some of whom were entrusted with carrying the message to Muĥammad (peace be upon him), reduces to nothing all that may be said by those claiming to follow earlier revelations. What significance have they when God Himself gives His testimony and the angels do likewise? Surely God’s testimony is enough on its own. Coming when it did, this testimony provided consolation to the Prophet for the stern opposition by the Jews to his message and their scheming against it. It also provided assurance to the early Muslims in Madinah who faced determined assaults from the Jews, the magnitude of which is evidenced by the campaign launched in the Qur’ān to repel it.

This testimony is followed by a stern and fearsome warning to those who deny the message of Islam. “Those who disbelieve and debar others from the way of God have indeed gone far astray. Those who disbelieve and persist in wrongdoing will find that God will never forgive them, nor will He guide them onto any road, except the road to hell, wherein they will abide beyond the count of time. That is indeed easy for God.” (Verses 167-169)

The description of the unbelievers contained in this warning, though general in its import, applies primarily to the Jews and describes their attitude towards Islam and the Muslims, and indeed towards the truth generally. It applies equally to those of them who lived in the early days of Islam in Madinah and those who lived at the time of Moses himself, as well as to succeeding generations of Jews up to the present day, with the exception of a small number who opened their hearts to Divine guidance and followed it.

Those Jews, as well as any group of people to whom the description of disbelieving and debarring others from the way of God applies, have indeed gone far astray. They have turned away from God’s guidance and strayed from the proper way of life which ensures man’s happiness. They have erred in their concepts and beliefs, behaviour and social system, and in every aspect of this life generally. This means that their concept regarding the life to come is also erroneous.