The Message of the Qur’an

The Message of the Qur’an

1985 7 July 21-23 The Message of the Qur’an (886)

In the Name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful

“And when we took a covenant from the Children of Israel: serve none but God. Show kindness to your parents, to your kinsfolk, to the orphans, and to the destitute. Speak fair to the people. Attend to your prayers and pay the poor-due. But you all turned your backs except a few, and gave no heed” (2:83).

Man’s first duty to God is to serve Him and ascribe no partners unto Him. Secondly, he should show kindness to others. Kindness starts at home, with one’s parents and family, extends to one’s neighbours and relatives, and finally reaches out to everyone with whom one comes into contact. There is only one proper way to deal with others, and that is with justice and benevolence.

In this matter, one is really tested in one’s dealings with “orphans and the destitute”, that is, with the weaker members of society. As for the strong, their strength itself guarantees that they will be given deferential treatment. It is to the weak, therefore, that one should be especially careful to show kindness. People who are kind to those who wield no worldly power and resources do so for God’s sake alone, for there is no other incentive at work.

There are various reasons for being less inclined to show kindness when dealing with the weak. Those who provide assistance to the weak tend to think of themselves as superiors. They are then prevented by their superiority complex from having regard for their beneficiary’s self-respect. Benefactors expect to be looked up to. Anyone who fails to show the deference expected of him is considered unworthy, and treated accordingly with disdain. Sometimes one person helping another on just a few occasions may feel that he is incurring a permanent liability and will then mistreat the object of his charity in order to free himself from an irksome duty. But it is not enough just to deliver fine speeches. Nor is it enough to play with fair words. It is one’s actual recognition of another’s moral worth in one’s day-to-day treatment of him that is of paramount importance. This means addressing him with deference and respect, however humble and defence-less he may be. This is something which man is loath to do, but without this, one cannot be a true well-wisher of one's fellow men.

“And when We made a covenant with you: You shall not shed your kinsmen’s blood or turn them out of their dwellings, to this you consented and bore witness. Yet there you are, slaying your own kinsfolk, and turning a number of them out of their dwellings, and helping each other against them with sin and aggression. Though should they come to you as captives, you would ransom them. Surely their expulsion was unlawful. Do you then believe in one part of the Scriptures and deny another?

Those of you that act thus shall be rewarded with disgrace in this world and with the most grievous punishment (on the Day of Resurrection). God is watching over all your actions.

Such are they who buy the life of this world at the price of the life to come. Their punishment shall not be lightened, nor shall they be helped (2:84-86).

Before the advent of Islam, three Jewish tribes inhabited the area around Medina: Banu Nadheer, Banu Quraiza, and Banu Qainqa’a. Despite the fact that all of them adhered to Mosaic law, ignorant prejudices had divided them into two groups. They had become enmeshed, along with the polytheist tribes of Median – Aus and Khazraj – in political maneuvering. Banu Nadhir and Banu Quraiza had aligned themselves with the Aus tribe, and the Banu Qainqa’a with the Khazraj. Split into separate camps in this manner, the three Jewish tribes were constantly at war with one another. In the Battle of Bua’ath, for instance, which occurred five years before the Prophet’s emigration to Medina, Jew had fought Jew alongside their rival Arab allies, killing their co-religionists and expelling them from their homes. Then, when hostilities ceased, they used to appeal for funds to ransom their brethren who had been taken captive by the pagan Arabs. Such action, they would say, had been laid down in the Torah. They were willing to break God’s commandments in regard to the life and property of other Jews. Then they would adopt a humanitarian posture on behalf of the victims of their own cruelty seeking to clothe their self-interested politics in a cloak of piety.

This is just like killing someone unjustly, and then giving him a religious funeral. Piety does not merely consist of performing such rituals: it consists of forsaking pagan ways, suppressing one’s selfish desires, controlling one’s politics in the interest of one’s religion. This is the essence of true piety, but people do not like to involve themselves in such arduous practices. They prefer to put on a pretence of piety by conducting superficial rituals. This is tantamount to issuing a self-made edition of divine religion; it is to disregard the eternal aspect of religion and attach importance to the worldly aspect, in the hope that zeal in performing actions which hold promise of worldly fame will qualify them for the reward of true piety. But such brazen distortion of religion can only earn one God’s punishment; it does not entitle one to any reward.