Chapter 2: Surat Al-Baqarah (The Cow), verses 135-141
Translation:
They
say: ‘Accept the Jewish or the Christian faith and you shall be rightly
guided.’ Say: ‘By no means! We believe in the faith of Abraham, the upright
one. He was no polytheist.’ Say: ‘We believe in God and that which was
revealed to us, and in what was revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and
the tribes; to Moses and Jesus and the other prophets by their Lord. We make no
distinction between any of them, and to God we have surrendered ourselves.’ If
they believe as you have done, they shall be rightly guided; if they reject your
faith, they shall surely be in schism. Against them, God is your all-sufficient
defender. He hears all and knows all. We take on God’s own dye. And who has a
better dye than God’s. And we are His worshippers. Say: ‘Would you dispute
with us about God, Who is our Lord and your Lord? We shall both be judged by our
actions. To Him alone we are devoted. Or do you claim that Abraham, Ishmael,
Isaac, Jacob and the tribes, were all Jews or Christians? Say: ‘Who knows
better, you or God? And who is more unjust than one who hides a testimony which
he has received from God? He is watching over your actions.’ That nation has
passed away. Theirs is what they earned and yours what you have earned.
Tafsir
(Commentary):
The
religion that the Prophet Muhammad taught was the religion of the Prophet
Abraham, the very religion to which the Jews and the Christians claimed
allegiance. Why was it, then, that they turned away from the Prophet Muhammad?
The reason for this was that the religion taught by Muhammad, on whom be peace,
taught people to take on the hue of God; to devote themselves to Him entirely.
With the People of the Book, (i.e., Jews and Christians) religion had a
different meaning. For them religion was a symbol of national pride. The message
brought by the Arab prophet hurt their pride, so they turned against him.
Those
who consider their own race superior to others cannot accept the truth when it
manifests itself in some nation other than their own. They believe in prophets
who come among their own people, but not in those from far-off places who come
among other peoples. The only religion that they are acquainted with is communal
religion. The only personalities that they acknowledge are those who belong to
their own race. Those who look at religion as worship of God, on the other hand,
recognize the truth of every piece of wisdom that God sends down, no matter who
teaches it. For Jewish theologians to realize that Muhammad was God’s final
messenger was not a matter of insuperable difficulty. There was nothing to
prevent them from seeing the truth of his religion. They should have proclaimed
what, deep down in their hearts, they knew to be true. But they did not accept
him as the final prophet, as enjoined by God, for the simple reason that they
were more concerned about their own position and prestige.
Just
as the people of old received their just deserts as individuals, so will
latter-day generations receive what they merit on their own account, for truth
is an individual, not an ancestral matter. The mistake of the Jews was to think
that contemporary and succeeding generations would be rewarded for the good
deeds of their ancestors. The Christians had done the same. Their idea of
original sin implied that sins were handed down from one generation to the next.
Such beliefs have no basis in truth. Everyone will be rewarded by God according
to his or her own personal actions; no one can be held responsible for the deeds
of others.