Understanding ‘Deen’

THE CONCEPT OF RELIGION enforced on others through external dominance. For example, can a person’s obedience to his own desires be removed by the army or the police? Clearly, it cannot. The truth is that only a few forms of outward conduct can be controlled or enforced through power. Inner obedience—such as submission to one’s desires—lies beyond the reach of coercion. Therefore, most kinds of obedience cannot be made a subject of enforcement. Furthermore, the actual historical events related to the emergence of deen do not support this interpretation. The verse addressed two groups: the Arab polytheists, with the choices being “either the sword or Islam,” and the People of the Book, who were permitted to practice their religion after paying the jizya. Thus, one group was religiously subdued and the other politically subdued. Clearly, we cannot say that Islam was established over either group in a way that every demand and requirement of Islam was enforced on them, both internally and externally. Therefore, the scholars of tafsir understood this verse to imply a general dominance, either over other religions or their followers. For example, in Kashshaf, it is stated: “to make it prevail” means to make the Prophet prevail “over people of all religions”, or “to make the true religion prevail over every religion” (Tafsir Kashshaf, Vol. 2, p. 265).