Chapter 3: Surat Aal-'Imran (The House 'Imran), verse 77-80
Translation:
Those that sell the covenant of God and their own oaths for a paltry price shall have no share in the world to come. God will neither speak to them, nor look at them, not purify them on the Day of Resurrection. Woeful punishment awaits them. And there are some among them who twist their tongues when quoting the Scriptures, so that you may think it from the Scriptures, whereas it is not from the Scriptures. They say: 'This is from God,' whereas it is not from God. Thus they knowingly ascribe falsehood to God. No mortal whom God has given the Scriptures and whom He has endowed with judgment and Prophethood would say to men: 'Worship me instead of God.' But rather: 'Be devoted servants of God, for you have taught and studied the Scriptures.' Nor would he enjoin you to serve the angels and the prophets as your gods; for would he enjoin you to be unbelievers after you have submitted to God? (77-80)
Commentary:
On
embracing faith one enters into a covenant with God that he would obey Him and
that living among human beings he would fulfill all responsibilities that
God’s shariah imposes upon him. This is a life of bounds which could be termed
as a life of covenant. To lead such a life one has to bid good bye to the
freedom of the self, one has to repeatedly sacrifice his interests and
considerations. That is why such a life of covenant can be observed by one who
has risen above worldly interests. One who is ready to overlook the divine pact
whenever his self suffers or his worldly interests are endangered/hit, it is as
if he exchanged the world for the hereafter at a very paltry price. Whenever the
question comes of choosing either the world or the Hereafter, he always prefers
the world. One who regards the Hereafter so valueless how can he be deserving of
God’s graces/mercies in the next world?
Those
who buy the world in exchange for the Hereafter do not out rightly deny religion
or the hereafter, rather, they do so by fully acknowledging/associating them
with their religion. Then how do they accord these two conflicting behavior.
This is done through deviation, that is, by putting self-styled construction to
the revealed teachings. Such people mould the teachings of their religion in
order to justify their worldly ways, sometimes by altering the wordings of the
revelation and at another by interpretation suited to their worldly interests.
Instead of changing themselves they change the book of God so that what the book
of God does not contain should be shown to be a part of it, so that their
irreligious life is cast into a religious light. The most heinous crime in the
eyes of God is to attribute something to God, which He has not said.