The controversy with the Jews and the Christians and the invitation to the Jews to a common basis of faith.

Aal ’Imran Verses 64 - 71

قُلْ يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ تَعَالَوْا إِلَىٰ كَلِمَةٍ سَوَاءٍ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكُمْ أَلَّا نَعْبُدَ إِلَّا اللَّهَ وَلَا نُشْرِكَ بِهِ شَيْئًا وَلَا يَتَّخِذَ بَعْضُنَا بَعْضًا أَرْبَابًا مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ ۚ فَإِنْ تَوَلَّوْا فَقُولُوا اشْهَدُوا بِأَنَّا مُسْلِمُونَ

“Say; “O’ people of the Book, come ye to a Word1Common2between us and you, that we worship3none but God and shall not associate4anything with Him and some of us take not any others for lords5other than God;” and if they turn back; then say ye: “Bear ye witness that we are Muslims6(those surrendered unto God)” (3:64).

يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ لِمَ تُحَاجُّونَ فِي إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَمَا أُنْزِلَتِ التَّوْرَاةُ وَالْإِنْجِيلُ إِلَّا مِنْ بَعْدِهِ ۚ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ

“O’ ye People of the BOOK! Why dispute ye about Abraham when the Law7and the Evangel8were not sent down till after him? (what?) Do ye not then understand (so much)?” (3:65).

هَا أَنْتُمْ هَٰؤُلَاءِ حَاجَجْتُمْ فِيمَا لَكُمْ بِهِ عِلْمٌ فَلِمَ تُحَاجُّونَ فِيمَا لَيْسَ لَكُمْ بِهِ عِلْمٌ ۚ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ وَأَنْتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ

“Lo! ye are those who disputed about which ye had knowledge; but why dispute ye about which ye have no knowledge? And God knoweth and ye know not!” (3:66).

مَا كَانَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ يَهُودِيًّا وَلَا نَصْرَانِيًّا وَلَٰكِنْ كَانَ حَنِيفًا مُسْلِمًا وَمَا كَانَ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ

“Abraham was neither Jew nor Christian; but upright in faith (was he) a Muslim; and he was not of the polytheists9“ (3:67).

إِنَّ أَوْلَى النَّاسِ بِإِبْرَاهِيمَ لَلَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوهُ وَهَٰذَا النَّبِيُّ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا ۗ وَاللَّهُ وَلِيُّ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

“Verily, of men the nearest10to Abraham, are surely those who followed him and this (Our) Prophet (Muhammad) and those who believe; and verily, God is the Guardian11of the faithful12“ (3:68).

وَدَّتْ طَائِفَةٌ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ لَوْ يُضِلُّونَكُمْ وَمَا يُضِلُّونَ إِلَّا أَنْفُسَهُمْ وَمَا يَشْعُرُونَ

“A group among the people of the Book would fain mislead you; while they mislead not but themselves, but they sense it not” (3:69).

يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ لِمَ تَكْفُرُونَ بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ وَأَنْتُمْ تَشْهَدُونَ

“O’ People of the Book why do ye disbelieve the signs of God while ye yourselves witness (them)?” (3:70).

يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ لِمَ تَلْبِسُونَ الْحَقَّ بِالْبَاطِلِ وَتَكْتُمُونَ الْحَقَّ وَأَنْتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ

“O’ people of the Book: Why confound ye the truth with falsehood, and why hide ye the truth while ye know (it)?” (3:71).

Commentary

Verse 64

This verse loudly speaks out the main policy of Islam and the Holy Prophet Muhammad about the dealing with the non-Muslims, which to maintain peace and general social harmony while preaching the Truth.

The original scriptures possessed by both the Jews and the Christians, preached nothing but the Unity of God, which is the basic principle of the faith, Islam. The belief in the other man-gods and the worship of the priests and the other holy men was a later innovation and a fanciful grafting which is referred to in 9:31. The verse enjoins to invite the Jews and the Christians to the point of the faith in one God which is the common demand of all the three religions. And since the belief in other than the absolute Unity of God, is nothing but ‘Shirk’ (i.e., associating others with God), which is abhorred in Islam, the Muslims have been informed to dissociate with the Jews and the Christians in their faith, just to make them know that the Muslims being the pure monotheists, without anything to do with any of their own fanciful fabrications about the godhead of Moses or Jesus.

From the beginning of this chapter, Qur’an has laid down such principles to be taken as the common ground for argument between the people of the scriptures to settle the disputable question. Of these principles, the fundamental is the Unity of God, not only as the Ultimate Creative Authority but as the Ultimate and the Absolute Sovereign Lord of the universe before whose Legislative Will or Order, all have to submit. Everyone has to surrender to His Will and obey Him as the sole object of worship, Reverence and Obedience. All beings of the angelical, human, animal or of the other spheres, and the nature in the heavens and in the earth and in between, though one may be greater than the other, are the created ones of His, subordinate as slaves and subservient to Him.

To associate anything in any stage as a separate authority besides Him is ‘Shirk’ or Polytheism. After arguing the case of Jesus being wrongly defied, here Qur’an addresses the people of the Book and warns them to be alive to the fundamental principle common to all who believe in the Absolute Authority and the Sovereignty of God. Whatever view or doctrine they may hold, it should be based on the divine declaration. The view of the doctrines laid down by any individual or anybody of the people, as right or wrong should have no value whatsoever as adherence to such views means holding others as authorities besides God. The principle is free of all doctrinal controversies which created sects and the various contestant schools after each prophet as Qur’an says in 3:19.

If the followers of the prophets had strictly adhered to the Word of God and the sayings of their respective prophets without any interference from their own selves, and had not allowed the ambitious priesthood to exercise its own discretion for its selfish ends, there would not have been any division or dissension among the people of the various scriptures. The Muslims in this regard are not exempted from this warning. To adhere to the doctrines and follow the views not based on Qur’an and the authentic sayings of the Holy Prophet, amounts to obedience to other than God and to hold the others as the authority besides Him. But to pay respect, regard or reverence to those who were the embodiment of absolute obedience and submission to God, is itself the obedience and submission to God Himself. Remembrance and the commemoration of such godly ones is itself the service and devotion to God’s order by Him13. It is particularly mentioned here so that the two issues might not be confused.

In short, every Muslim should always be on guard against any of his actions being motivated with anything other than the divine authority and order.

It must also be borne in mind that worshipping God and obedience to Him, is to follow the prophets sent by Him and those who have been declared by them as their successors and their representatives. To consider them as having been declared to be so, and following them means nothing but obedience and worship to God. But if they have been considered to be more or less than what they have been declared to be, or if people other than them are considered to be of the same status without- having any divine declaration to that effect, would amount to admitting the other authorities besides God’s14.

Verse 65

The dispute referred to in this verse is of the Jews and the Christians claiming that the faith of Abraham was the same as theirs.

“The Jewish belief is also difficult to define. Time was when it was grossly anthropomorphic and ‘monolatros’ (as Charles expressively calls it) The Yahweh was only the tribal God of Israel, the gods of other nations were not false, but it was the duty of Israelites to reject them. As culture extended the other gods began to be denied and Yahweh remained the sole Lord and anthropomorphism also decreased and explanations were devised to interpret passages in the Pentateuch that spoke of God as walking in the gardens, fighting duels with men and the like”15.

Verse 65-68 In further consolidation of the fundamental principle common to all the revealed religions and the people of the scripture, Qur’an warns the Jews and the Christians against their attempt to give racial, parochial or any other colour of their own fancy to the religion of God. The Jews would consider Abraham to be a Jew and the Christian hold him to be a Nazarene. Qur’an refutes this argument saying that these religious colours came to stay after the revelation of Torah and the Evangel, but the Religion of God comes down from Adam and shall continue to the end of the world. Hence it should be presented in the most comprehensive and universal term, which means the changes and the substitution of prophets, alterations in the commandments of the laws, does not affect the unity of the religion prescribed by God16. The Religion is Islam, which means total submission to God’s Will, Authority, and His Absolute Sovereignty. Changes in the subordinate rules and regulations do not affect the Sovereignty but rather confirms it. Abraham as well as the other prophets preceding him and those who followed him, all were Muslims, not Jews or Christians or Mohammadans. The nearest to Abraham were not those who were his mere descendants but those who followed him faithfully. And how closest attached to Abraham is the Holy Prophet and his faithful adherents and God is the closest One to all the believers. (A.P.)

Verse 66

Beware, you, (the Jews and the Christians) are those who dispute about the knowledge which you have about the identity of our Prophet Muhammad, the details about whom you know from your own scriptures which you possess. How can you know about Abraham whom you do not know, and God alone knows him, i.e., about the faith of Abraham.

Verse 67

The position of Abraham with regard to his faith is made clear. The word ‘Muslim’ used for Abraham indicates that Islam is not a new religion, and the word ‘Muslim’ has been the term used for everyone who submits himself to God irrespective of the age even prior to the advent of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. Thus, submission to God, done in any part of the world in any age, by any people, if done duly, was Islam. ‘Islam’ is only an Arabic word meaning submission and one who had done this had been a Muslim.

Verse 68

i.e., The nearest of the people to Abraham during his time were those who followed him, and in this age this Prophet (i.e., the Holy Prophet Muhammad) and those who believe as the Holy Prophet Muhammad does.

Amirul-Momineen Ali-Ibn-Abi Talib says that the nearest to the Holy Prophet is he who obeys God though he might not be related to him, and the enemy of the Holy Prophet is he who disobeys God though he might be related to him. The fourth Holy Imam Zainul-Abideen says: ‘The Paradise is for the pious, be he an Abyssinian slave and the Hell is for the wicked, be he a Quraishite Syed, i.e., a descendant of the Holy Prophet.’ (M.S. U.B. F.A.)

Verse 69

The Jews were always inviting Huzaif al-Yamani and Ammar Yasir and other faithful followers of the Holy Prophet to join their faith (i.e. Judaism). But these great Muslims never paid any heed to the invitations.

It needs to be considered a little seriously that perfect obedience to God means the perfect obedience to the Holy Prophet. And perfect obedience to the Holy Prophet means the unconditional love, perfect love of the Holy Prophet and everything he loves. How can those who sat quite in a safe place without taking part in the battle which was for the survival of the faith, and those who even ran away from it, leaving the Holy Prophet in the midst of the fighting enemy, be ever justifiably termed as friends of the Holy Prophet, and how can those who were the bloodthirsty enemies of the ‘Ahl Al-Bayt’ of the Holy Prophet, whom he loved the most, be the nearest ones to him? Will they not be the hidden enemies and the worst hypocrites?

Verse 70

This verse speaks of the appeal to reason and to the conscience, which Islam always makes in inviting the people to the Truth.

Verse 71

It is made clear by this verse that the Jews and the Christians knew the truth about the apostleship of the Holy Prophet and the main doctrine of the Unity of God which Islam re-preached, but they had been confounding the Truth with falsehood of their own.

• 1. Term.
• 2. Equally agreeable.
• 3. Supplicate - pray - in absolute Submission.
• 4. Submission to - as an authority.
• 5. Ar. ‘Rabb’.
• 6. Those Submitted themselves to God. Refer to: 9:31.
• 7. The Torah - the Scripture given to Moses.
• 8. The Injeel - The Scripture given to Jesus.
• 9. Those who associate others with God in authority.
• 10. Note - nearness Vests in faithful following - while the son of Noah was disowned. Refer to Verses 11:45, 11:46.
• 11. Ar. – ‘Wali’
• 12. Refer to: 42:48.
• 13. Refer to: 38:48; 38:49.
• 14. Refer to: 9:31; 4:69; 4:80. (A.P.)
• 15. B.H. Vol. II p. 53
• 16. Refer to: 2:128, 22:78.