The Qur`an, the Believers
and the non-Believers
By
Ahmad Shafaat
Muslims believe that the Qur`an consists of words that were
miraculously formulated by God in the heart of the Prophet Muhammad,
his will playing no part in it. This is also expressed by saying
that the Spirit (or the angel Gabriel) revealed the verses of the
Qur`an to him. This belief did not develop as a result of gradual
reflection or as a result of a decision taken by the community after
the Prophet. Rather, this belief was a part of being Muslim from the
very beginning for the simple reason that the Qur`an itself clearly
states it (2:23,97, 4:82, 6:19,
10:38, 14:1, 17:86-88, 26:192-194, 27:6, 42:24, 56:77-80, 80:11-16,
81:19-29, 85:21-22). To be a Muslim has always meant to
accept Muhammad as the Messenger of God which in turn has always
meant accepting the Qur`an as the word of God.
What is the Qur`an?
The
Prophet Muhammad started his mission in the early 7th century moved
by a conviction that he had been entrusted with an extremely
important and urgent message for humankind. This conviction came
upon him in a forceful way without any anticipation on his part.
Traditions suggest that he felt compelled to take up this mission in
the face of initial reluctance and apprehensions.
The performance of this mission required making some statements,
taking some actions, and dealing with reactions to those statements
and actions, which required making still more statements and taking
still more actions. The Qur`an played a central part in this
process. It consists of statements that moved the mission along.
These statements, along with the actions taking place in the
background, were extremely effective as may be judged from the fact
that within a period of about 23 years the Prophet was able to win
the hearts and minds of his people, despite sustained and fierce
opposition, and launch a world wide religious movement.
The Qur`an performs two functions in the mission of the Prophet. On
the one hand, it prepares a community transformed in the light of
its message and helps deal with the unceasing opposition from its
first hearers, and on the other hand, it enshrines that message for
all future generations. The Qur`anic words are therefore at one and
the same time tied to the immediate circumstances of the Prophet’s
activity and transcend those circumstances.
The message of the Qur`an
What is the message according to which the Qur`an transforms those
who accept it and that it wants to convey to the rest of humanity?
This message calls humanity to faith in, and relationship with, the
one true transcendent God. Muhammad himself had a particularly
strong and close relationship with God and enjoyed its tremendous
benefits. His being Messenger of God primarily means that he is
chosen by God to help others build a similar relationship with him
and thus share God’s grace. That is why the Qur`an calls him rahmah
li al-‘alamin (grace to all the worlds) (21:107).
Most of humanity has always believed in some kind of supreme God and
this was certainly the case during the time of the Qur`anic
revelation. Consequently, the Qur`an does not concern itself with
the question of God’s existence. Its primary focus is on the problem
that after recognizing his existence in some way most people ignore
him because they do not believe in his revelations, as if he has
nothing to say to them and they have nothing to do with him. Or,
they recognize his relevance to one aspect of their lives (such as
their personal life) and ignore him in other aspects (such as the
political). Or they create his image in their own minds rather than
submit to him as he is. Or they simply turn away from him as
too unknown and too remote and start worshipping some other beings
either as his incarnations or as mediators or as completely separate
deities (6:91, 39:3,38,67, 43:87,
29:63).
In the Qur`an belief in God is a far reaching belief with tremendous
implications. It requires nothing short of a wholehearted commitment
and complete surrender to God (islam). It also requires
taking responsibility in life. Human beings are not created to
aimlessly wander in life (75:36). They are created as God’s slaves (‘ibad)
to serve his purpose (51:56), although as they can also be his
friends (4:135).
Responsibility requires accountability. Some accountability of our
actions takes place in this life but at the same time people are
often rewarded here for some of the wrongs they do and are punished
for some of the good deeds they do. In the face of this reality we
may either deny the existence or relevance of God or conclude that
complete accountability of our actions will take place in a future
life. In the Qur`an it is one of the momentous consequences of the
belief in God that one day in the hereafter human beings will answer
for their actions before God (17:13-15 etc).
Believers and
non-Believers
Believers are, of course, those who freely (2:256,
4:79-80, 6:107, 16:82, 17:53-54, 21:107-109, 39:41) respond
to the call of the Prophet and accept him as the Messenger of the
one true God. They are often addressed in the Qur`an and given
various types of instructions for their spiritual and moral
development and for organizing their collective life. The Qur`an
also talks a great deal about other religions and their adherents.
Its attitude towards them flows from a universal outlook on
revelation and salvation.
In the Qur`anic view revelation is an expression of man’s own
true nature (fitrah) as God meant it to be
(30:30). This is why good can be described as ma‘ruf, meaning
“recognized (as good by humanity generally)” and bad is munkar,
meaning “rejected (as bad by humanity generally)”. The knowledge of
good and bad and of the need to have a relationship with God is
found in the depth of every human soul (91:7-10, 7:172), although in
most human beings it is suppressed by various factors such as
negative influences of the society, demands of worldly needs, and of
some human weaknesses such as impatience, slavery to one’s desires,
arrogance, and unawareness of one’s ignorance (10:12,
14:21, 17:11, 25:28-29, 40:47-48, 51:11, 70:19-21, 76:27 etc).
The purpose of revelation is to bring this knowledge out of
suppression, to resurrect it from its grave in the human soul. This
is something that human beings cannot achieve by their own will
(2:23, 17:88 etc), since the very tendencies that suppress the
knowledge also hinder or corrupt its expression. Humanity needs
messengers of God speaking with divine inspiration (98:1-3).
Consistent with the above view, revelation is not considered as
channeled exclusively through one person or one nation. Rather
messengers of God have arisen among every nation (16:36). And all
these messengers essentially taught the same message (42:13),
although in details of outward rites (manasik) and
regulations for organizing community life (shir‘ah and
minhaj) they differed (22:67, 4:48). Since revelation
played a part in the formation of many, if not all the existing
traditions, salvation is achievable through them if a person commits
wholeheartedly to the one true God and as a consequence leads a life
of goodness (2:112). In particular, Sabians (probably the followers
of John the Baptist), Jews and Christians “shall have their reward
from their Lord, and there is no fear for them, nor shall they
grieve” if they have faith in the one true God, believe in the
hereafter, and do good (2:62, 5:69). Christians who worship Jesus as
God will not enter paradise unless they turn to the forgiving and
merciful God in repentance (2:72-74), but the Qur`anic judgment will
be exactly the same if some Muslims deified Muhammad and started to
worship him. Such worship of human figures is contrary to the
universal religion which according to the Qur`an is the essence of
the teachings of all the true messengers of God raised among all
nations.
Since there is light of revelation outside Islam and non-believers
have the possibility of salvation, the world of Islam and the
non-believing world are not distinguished absolutely in terms of
good and evil, light and darkness. Other religions are viewed as a
mixture of divine light brought by the true messengers of God and
errors introduced by some of their followers. Therefore the
functions of the Qur`an include being a confirmer (musaddiq)
(2:97, 3:3) and guard (muhaymin) (5:48) of the divine light
in earlier religions, identifying serious errors introduced by some
of their adherents (5:116, 57:27) and resolving some of their
differences (27:76-79). Thus the Qur`an maintains an attitude of
constructive criticism towards other religious traditions. The same
is true of the followers of those traditions. They are not painted
with the same brush (3:69 etc); rather the Qur`an expressly states
that “they are not all alike” (3:113). It praises some of their good
qualities while criticizes some of their weaknesses (57:27, 5:13-14,
9:31, 34). In this regard it is important to note that such a
critical attitude is not reserved for only non-believers. Believers
and even the Prophet himself can be criticized for some of their
failings (62:11, 66:1, 80:1-12). The Qur`an, as the word of the Lord
of all humanity, shows no partiality except towards righteousness
(6:115, 49:13), just as it teaches its followers to rise above all
partiality other than partiality towards truth and justice (4:135,
5:8 etc).
Sometimes the Qur`an calls non-believers to faith in Muhammad and
the revelation he has been given (3:179, 4:170, 5:15-16, 7:158). But
it is perfectly willing to accept that some of them will choose to
continue to follow the religion of their fathers. Because of this
acceptance, the Qur`an often addresses non-believers as
non-believers, encourages them to follow faithfully the
revelations that they were given (5:44, 46-47), and
establishes rules for dealings with them (5:5).
All this provides an excellent basis for dialogue between believers
and non-believers, through which believers can listen with
sensitivity to non-believers and learn about their traditions,
exploring where there is agreement but without ignoring important
differences, especially those that relate to God’s unity and
transcendence (3:64). As a result of such dialogue there can be
cooperation on what is just and virtuous, but not on sinful causes
(5:2).
The Qur`an also deals with relationships of the Muslims with the
non-believers at the individual and collective levels.
Unfortunately, many non-believers showed much hatred and enmity
towards Islam and Muslims, throwing Muslims out of their homes
(3:195), or making fun of their prayer and religion generally
(5:57-58), and either waging war or kindling the flames of war
between Muslims and some other non-believers (5:64) or by other
subversive devices (3:72). Although at an individual level Muslims
can have even such intimate relationship as that of marriage with
those non-believers who are truly monotheists (5:5, 2:221, 5:72),
Muslims are advised not to take hostile non-believers as allies
against the purposes of Islam and the collective interests of the
Muslim community (5:51, 57). Those non-believers who are not hostile
are explicitly exempted from this advice (60:8) and even in case of
hostile non-believers the Qur`an holds forth the hope that hostility
will some day change to love: “It may be that God will generate love
between you and those of them with whom you are now at enmity. God
is capable (of all things); God is forgiving and merciful” (60:7). |