Verses 13–16
This third group of verses define revelation through its effect on the world and the teachings it contains; the one divine religion which all human beings must adopt as a way of life and a path that will lead them to felicity (saʿādah).
In this context, these verses make clear that the Muḥammadan Religion (al-sharīʿah al-muḥammadiyyah) is the most comprehensive of all the divinely-revealed religions. They also show that whatever differences that occur in God’s religion, despite its singularity, do not stem from the revelation itself. Rather, these differences stem from people’s own audacity after having been given knowledge. And these verses make still other points which we shall refer to as we discuss them in sequence.
Commentary
شَرَعَ لَكُمْ مِنَ الدِّينِ مَا وَصَّىٰ بِهِ نُوحًا وَالَّذِي أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْكَ وَمَا وَصَّيْنَا بِهِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَمُوسَىٰ وَعِيسَىٰ ۖ أَنْ أَقِيمُوا الدِّينَ وَلَا تَتَفَرَّقُوا فِيهِ ۚ كَبُرَ عَلَى الْمُشْرِكِينَ مَا تَدْعُوهُمْ إِلَيْهِ ۚ اللَّهُ يَجْتَبِي إِلَيْهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَيَهْدِي إِلَيْهِ مَنْ يُنِيبُ ١٣
(42:13) He has made plain to you of the religion what He enjoined upon Noah and that which We have revealed to you and that which We enjoined upon Jesus and Moses and Jesus to maintain the religion and do not divide yourselves; severe to the idolaters is that which you call them to; God chooses for it whom He pleases, and guides to it him who turns [to Him], frequently.
To “make plain a path” (sharaʿa al-ṭarīq) means to beat a clear and visible trail. Rāghib says:
“To enjoin” (waṣiyyah) means to exhort another to follow a course of action. They say “arḍun wāṣiyyatun” to mean a land covered in vegetation, and “awṣāhu/waṣṣāhū” to mean “I enjoined him.”
This word implies a sense of importance; not every command is “enjoined”, only those which the one who enjoins deems to be of importance.
So when God says: He has made plain to you of the religion what He enjoined upon Noah… this means he made clear those matters of religion, which is a way of life (sunnat al-ḥayāt), which Noah was given and charged with. From the context, it appears that the address here is directed to the Prophet and his community, and what He enjoined upon Noah… refers to Noah’s religion.
The phrase …and that which We have revealed to you… clearly intends to draw a contrast between him and Noah to show that to the Prophet have been revealed teachings and laws exclusive to his own religion. God refers to this as “revelation” rather than “enjoining” because, as we have already mentioned, “enjoining” is only used in conjunction with matters of importance, namely beliefs and practices, and our Prophet’s religion encompasses all matters, whether obvious or subtle, and contains both major and minor details. This is unlike other religions, which were confined to those matters most important in relation to the situation of their communities, and which accorded with the extent of their capacity.
The transition in …and that which We have revealed… from the third-person (“He”) to the first-person (“We”) signifies grandeur. This is because important persons speak about them, and about their servants and followers.
…and that which We enjoined upon Abraham and Moses and Jesus… is conjoined with the phrase …what He enjoined upon Noah…… and this means “what was made clear for each one of them.” The order these prophets are mentioned in corresponds to the historical order in which they were sent; Noah came before Abraham, Abraham before Moses, and Moses before Jesus. Our Prophet is only mentioned before all of them out of honour and preference for him, as when God says: And when We made a covenant with the prophets and with you, and with Noah and Abraham and Moses and Jesus, son of Mary… (). But then God follows with Noah to show that his religion is the oldest and longest-standing.
In this verse, we can observe a number of points.
First, insofar as the tone of the verse suggests that God is enumerating His blessings, especially when we look at the end of the verse and those that immediately follow it, this suggests that the Muḥammadan Religion encompasses all previous religions. This does not contradict the verse …for each of you did We appoint a law and a way … () as the religion having a particular identity does not negate its universality.
Secondly, the only divine religions which are attributed to revelation are those of Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muḥammad. If there were any others, they would have been included here for the sake of the aforementioned universality.
The consequences of this are: First, there was no religion before Noah in the sense of laws governing human society in order to remove social disputes. And this has already been discussed briefly in our commentary on the verse …people were a single nation; then God raised prophets… ().
Secondly, those prophets sent after Noah followed his religion until Abraham was sent; thereafter they followed Abraham’s religion until Moses was sent, and so on and so forth.
Thirdly, the prophets who founded religions and were possessed of resolution (ūlū al-ʿazm) are the five mentioned in this verse. If there were any others, they would have been included here as well. So these are the leaders of the prophets and their pre-eminence amongst prophets is also demonstrated by the verse: And when We made a covenant with the prophets and with you, and with Noah and Abraham and Moses and Jesus, son of Mary… ().
…to maintain the religion and do not divide yourselves…To here is explanatory; maintain the religion means to preserve it by following it and acting upon it; the religion takes the definite article to signify a particular religion (rather than religion in general), i.e. “maintain this religion that has been made clear for you”; and do not divide yourselves means to preserve the religion’s unity by agreeing upon it and avoiding disagreements about it.
Because the religion was made clear for them, they were all commanded to follow it and act upon it without any difference between them. God expounds this by commanding them to maintain the religion and not divide themselves concerning it. So the point here is that they must all maintain the religion together and not become divided and segregated by only maintaining one part of it but not another. Maintaining the religion means believing in everything that God has sent down and acting upon what must be acted upon.
So all the religions that God sent down to His prophets are actually a single religion which must be maintained and in which division must be avoided. For the divine laws shared between them, which endure in the form of the continuing moral duty to observe them, the meaning of “maintain” is obvious. However, as for the laws only laid down in some of these religions and abrogated by later religions, the reality of an abrogated law is that it is a law with a specific period of applicability amongst a particular group of people at a particular time in human history. Abrogation (naskh) simply means that this period has come to an end, not that the law is now false. God says: …God speaks the truth and He guides to the way (). So an abrogated law is always true (ḥaqq), but it is only to be acted upon by a specific people at a specific time, while others need only believe in the truth it without acting upon it themselves. This is the meaning of maintaining and not being divided in this regard.
From the above, it is clear that the command to maintain the religion and not be divided therein—…to maintain the religion and do not divide yourselves…—is universal in its applicability and encompasses all people at all times.
From this is demonstrated the falsity of the claim made by some that the command to maintain the religion and not be divided only applies to those teachings shared between all the religions, rather than those particular to one of them. They say that these different rulings vary according to their respective nations and the condition of these nations.
We say this verse demonstrates the falsity of such a claim because there is nothing to qualify the categorical nature of the ordinance …to maintain the religion and do not divide yourselves…, whereas if it were as they suggested, then the command to maintain the religion would be restricted to the three principles of religion: Divine Unity (tawḥīd), Prophethood (nubuwwah), and Resurrection (maʿād). As for other secondary teachings, we might not be able to find a single teaching shared from all angles between all of the different religions. And this is clearly rejected by the tenor of the statement He has made plain to you of the religion what He enjoined upon Noah…, as well as by the verses:
And surely this religion of yours is one religion and I am your Lord, therefore be careful [of your duty] to Me. But they cut off their religion among themselves into sects, each part rejoicing in that which is with them. ()
Surely the religion with God is Islam, and those to whom the Book had been given did not show opposition but after knowledge had come to them, out of spite among themselves…. ()
…severe to the idolaters is that which you call them to… By that which you call them to, God means the whole religion of Divine Unity which the Prophet would call them to, and not merely the principle of Divine Unity itself. This is made clear by the following verses. And it is severe (kabur) for the idolaters because it is difficult for them to accept it.
…God chooses for it whom He pleases, and guides to it him who turns [to Him], frequently… Choose (ijtibāʾ) means “to gather and bring close”, and the context suggests that the pronouns hu in the two instances of for it and to it (ilayh) here both refer to the same thing as that which you call them to. This means that God gathers and brings to the Religion of Divine Unity—which is that which you call them to—whomever of His servants He so wills and He guides to it whoever turns to Him frequently. So the entire phrase …hard to the unbelievers is that which you call them to; God chooses for it whom He pleases, and guides to it he who turns [to Him], frequently carries a similar meaning to the verse He has chosen you and has not laid upon you any hardship in religion; the faith of your father Abraham ().
It is said that these pronouns (in to it) refer to God (that is, to Him) and there is no problem with this per se, but what we have mentioned above fits better. In both cases the phrase God chooses for it whom He pleases… is used to show He has no need for the arrogant idolaters to believe. This is like God’s saying: But if they are proud, then those with your Lord glorify Him during the night and the day, and they do not tire ().
It is also said that what you call them to means “what you call them to believe in”, namely his own prophethood, and God chooses for it whom He pleases… onwards means the same as the verse …God best knows where He places His message… (). But this goes against the apparent meaning of the verse under discussion.
وَمَا تَفَرَّقُوا إِلَّا مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَهُمُ الْعِلْمُ بَغْيًا بَيْنَهُمْ ۚ وَلَوْلَا كَلِمَةٌ سَبَقَتْ مِنْ رَبِّكَ إِلَىٰ أَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى لَقُضِيَ بَيْنَهُمْ ۚ وَإِنَّ الَّذِينَ أُورِثُوا الْكِتَابَ مِنْ بَعْدِهِمْ لَفِي شَكٍّ مِنْهُ مُرِيبٍ ١٤
(42:14) And they did not become divided until after knowledge had come to them out of spite among themselves; and had not a word gone forth from your Lord till an appointed term, certainly judgment would have been given between them; and those who were made to inherit the Book after them are most surely in disquieting doubt concerning it.
They in they did not become divided refers to the people, as is understood from the context. Spite (baghī) means jealousy or enmity. It is qualified by the words among themselves (baynahum) to show that this was something that circulated amongst them. This means that, after they knew the truth, the people for whom the religion was made clear only became divided and disagreed because of feelings of enmity and envy that circulated amongst them.
This is the kind of disagreement in religion that leads to sectarianism and factionalism. Throughout His revelation, God attributes this to spite. As for the disagreements that call for revelation to be sent down, namely disagreements in the affairs of daily life and division in societal matters, these stem from people’s differing temperaments and goals. In fact, the very reason for which revelation is sent down and religions are promulgated is to resolve such disagreements, as alluded to by God’s words, which we have already discussed: …people were a single nation; then God sent prophets… ().
…and had not a word gone forth from your Lord till an appointed term, certainly judgment would have been given between them… Here, a word means something similar to what God says when Adam descended to the earth: …and there is for you in the earth an abode and a provision for a time…. This means that were it not for the fact that God decreed that they would abide on the earth and enjoy provision therein for a specified time, then the matter would have been decided as soon as they became divided in their religion and deviated from God’s path, and they would have surely perished as a result of this grievous sin!
One might argue: “But God has judged and punished, just as He relates in the stories of Noah, Hūd, and Ṣāliḥ! Doesn’t God say: And every nation had an apostle; so when their apostle came, the matter was decided between them with justice… ()?”
The answer to this is that the instances in which God judges and punishes people have only been when communities living at the time of prophets rejected them. But we are discussing this phrase …and had not a word gone forth from your Lord…. And this refers to communities after their prophets left them, as is clear from the context.
…and those who were made to inherit the Book after them are most surely in disquieting doubt concerning it: Them in after them refers to those who became divided after knowledge had come to them out of spite amongst themselves; these are the early generations of a religious community. Those who were made to inherit the book after them are their descendants and the succeeding generations. So this verse shows that those who began the disagreements and laid the foundations for division knew what the truth was, but they only did what they did out of spite. However, their descendants inherited the Book from them and were in a state of utter doubt with regards to it.
What we have said about this verse’s meaning is derived from its own tone and context. Other commentators have offered a multitude of opinions which there is no point in detailing and rebutting here. Interested readers can refer to their books for more details.
فَلِذَٰلِكَ فَادْعُ ۖ وَاسْتَقِمْ كَمَا أُمِرْتَ ۖ وَلَا تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَاءَهُمْ ۖ وَقُلْ آمَنْتُ بِمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ مِنْ كِتَابٍ ۖ وَأُمِرْتُ لِأَعْدِلَ بَيْنَكُمُ ۖ اللَّهُ رَبُّنَا وَرَبُّكُمْ ۖ لَنَا أَعْمَالُنَا وَلَكُمْ أَعْمَالُكُمْ ۖ لَا حُجَّةَ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكُمُ ۖ اللَّهُ يَجْمَعُ بَيْنَنَا ۖ وَإِلَيْهِ الْمَصِيرُ ١٥
(42:15) To this then go on inviting, and go on steadfastly on the right way as you are commanded, and do not follow their whims, and say: I believe in what God has revealed of the Book, and I am commanded to do justice between you: God is our Lord and your Lord; we shall have our deeds and you shall have your deeds; no proof need there be between us and you: God brings us together, and to Him is the return.
This follows logically from what God says above about making a single religion clear for all the prophets and their nations, and before dividing them into the early generations (who knowingly differed concerning the religion out of spite) and later generations (who were in doubt about what they had inherited of the Book). In other words, because He made clear to you everything He made clear to those before you, you must invite others to your way. And because of what He said about some dividing out of spite, and others being in doubt, you must go aright as you are commanded and not follow their whims.
The lām in for this (li-dhalika) is to signify a cause (taʿlīl). It is also said that this lām also means “to” (ilā), meaning “to the religion that has been made clear for you.”
And go aright as you are commanded…—“going aright” (istiqāmah) means—as Rāghib has mentioned—to stick to the right path. The phrase and do not follow their whims serves as an explanation of this.
…and say: I believe in what God has revealed of the Book… This makes all of the divine scriptures equal from the aspect of believing in them and having faith in them; these are the books that God has sent down containing the teachings of His religions.
…and I am commanded to do justice between you… This makes all people equal from the aspect of inviting them and directing them towards what God has revealed of the Religion.
And it is said that the lām in to do justice between you (li aʿdilu baynakum) is for causation, meaning “I have been commanded with these things in order for me to do justice between you.” In the same vein, it is said that the meaning of “justice” (ʿadl) is justice in governing. And it is said: “to do justice in judging between you.” Other interpretations are also offered, but all of these are very unlikely because they are not supported by the context of the verses under discussion.
…God is our Lord and your Lord… This explains the reason why God has said all books and religions are to be believed in equally, and that all people are to be called to the Religion equally. Namely, that its teachings encompass all of them. And this is why this phrase interjects rather than being added with a conjunction such as “and.”
When God says God is our Lord and your Lord, this shows that the One God is the Lord of all. People do not have many different lords, such that each group is attached to their own lord, preferring their own over all others, and each believing only in their own lord’s religion. Rather God is the Lord of all, and all are His servants and subjects. It is His commands that manage their lives, and the religions He sent down to His prophets that they follow. So no one has any occasion to believe in one of them but not any other, just as the Jews believe in the religion of Moses but no other, or the Christians believe in the religion of Jesus but not that of Muḥammad. Instead, it is obligatory to believe in every revealed scripture and to believe that they are all from God.
…we shall have our deeds and you shall have your deeds… This indicates that even if people’s deeds differ as to whether they are good or bad, and as to whether they are rewarded or punishment, these deeds do not belong to anyone except the one who does them. Each and every person owns what he does; none shall benefit from the deeds of others, nor shall they be harmed by the deeds of others. So he should not prefer one person to benefit from his deeds or put off another to avoid being harmed by his. Of course, there is a ranking of deeds according to the levels of those who do them, but that is for God when He holds His servants to account. It is not for human beings—whether the Prophet or anyone else, all of whom are God’s servants and subjects—to determine this. And when He holds His servants to account, no person will have nothing from another. This is what God mentions in Noah’s debate with his people: They said: Shall we believe in you while the lowest follow you? He said: And what knowledge have I of what they do? Their account is only with my Lord, if you could perceive. (27:111–113)
And also when He tells the Prophet: …neither are you answerable for any reckoning of theirs, nor are they answerable for any reckoning of yours… ().
When God says …no proof need there be between us and you…, this could mean that there is no proof indicating that one group of us has priority over the other in that which is between us, such that one group could use it to argue against the other.
By negating proof, it could also mean to negate its logical corollary; namely an argument. This would mean “no argument need there be between us and you because of our different ranks; our Lord is One and, insofar as we are all His servants, we are one too. Each person shall have what he has done, so there is no argument right now until there is proof one way or the other.”
From here it becomes clear that there is no validity to the interpretation some offer for this sentence: that there is no need for proof or arguments because the truth is so obvious that it is not necessary to offer arguments for it, and any disagreement that remains is only because of arrogance and obstinacy. This is because the context of the present discussion is what the Prophet has been commanded with regards to himself and his community of the practice of treating equally (taswiyah), not with regards to proving any fundamental teachings. So we do not need to understand “proof” in the way these commentators have.
…God brings us together… Here, us encompasses both the us and you in the previous sentences, and by brings together it means to bring them together in Lordship as He is the lord of all and all are His servants. Hence, God brings us together affirms what was said before; God is our Lord and your Lord. It also prepares the way for the statement …and to Him is the return. From these two sentences we grasp that God is our source, because He is the Lord of us all, and He is also our destination because we return to Him. So none of us has any creator except Him!
At first glance, it would seem more appropriate to say: “God is my Lord and your Lord, I have my deeds and you have your deeds. There is no proof between me and you…” because of the previous statements: I believe… and I am commanded… where the first-person singular is used. However, the first-person plural is used instead. This is because God says previously: He has made plain to you [plural] of the religion what He enjoined upon Noah… He also says: God chooses for it whom He pleases, and guides to it he who turns [to Him], frequently which indicates that there are a group of people who believe in what the Prophet believes, who respond to his invitation and follow his religion.
So the first-person plural in our Lord, we shall have our deeds and between us refers to the Prophet and those who believe in him. Meanwhile, the second-person plural pronouns your Lord, your deeds and between us and you refer to all other people, whether idolaters or People of the Book. This conforms with the verse, elsewhere: Say: O followers of the Book! Come to a common word between us and you that we shall not serve any but God and [that] we shall not associate aught with Him, and [that] some of us shall not take others for lords besides God; but if they turn back, then say: Bear witness that we are Muslims ().
وَالَّذِينَ يُحَاجُّونَ فِي اللَّهِ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا اسْتُجِيبَ لَهُ حُجَّتُهُمْ دَاحِضَةٌ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ وَعَلَيْهِمْ غَضَبٌ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ ١٦
(42:16) And (as for) those who dispute about God after that obedience has been rendered to Him, their plea is null with their Lord, and upon them is wrath, and for them is severe punishment.
“Argument” (ḥujjah) means to speak with the goal of affirming a proposition or refuting it. It is derived from the word ḥajj, meaning “destination.” “Null” (dahḍ) means false and ephemeral.
Based on what has been said, this means that those who dispute about God—meaning those who argue against His lordship or try to refute His religion—after people have responded to Him and entered His religion because of the clear proofs and arguments in its favour, their arguments are invalid and do not hold any sway with their Lord. His wrath is upon them, and they shall have a painful punishment.
The apparent meaning of “responding to him” (istijāba lahu) means truly responding and accepting it on the basis of knowledge without any doubts, as a sound conscience demands. This is because the teachings of the religion chime with human nature and anyone who has a living heart will respond positively to them. God says:
Only those accept who listen; and [as to] the dead, God will raise them…. ()
And the soul and Him Who fashioned it, then inspired it to understand what is right and wrong for it…. ()
Then set your face upright for religion in the right state— the nature made by God in which He has made men. ()
In short, the verse means that those who dispute about God or His religion after human nature has responded to it or after people have responded to it on account of their healthy human natures, their arguments are invalid and ephemeral in the eyes of their Lord. His wrath is upon them and there awaits them a punishment so severe that they cannot imagine it.
This interpretation is supported to some extent by the tone of the above verses, as these describe God making clear a religion, enjoining it upon the prophets and choosing whichever servants He wishes to be drawn to it. So, on the basis of the above verses, there can be no disputing that God has a religion which He has chosen for His servants, and any argument to the contrary is necessarily void. Perhaps on this basis we can say that God’s words God it is Who revealed the Book with truth, and the balance explain the reason for their argument’s falsity. We invite the reader to reflect upon this.
It is said: The verse when He has been responded to means the Messenger, and those who responded to him were the People of the Book. And this means that they confessed that descriptions and prophecies of him can be found in their scriptures. So this means they disputed about him after admitting they knew him, and thus their argument was invalid.
And it is said: When He has been responded to means the Messenger and the one who responded to him was God, meaning that God answered his supplications against the leaders of the Quraysh when they were slain in the Battle of Badr, as well as his supplications against the people of Mecca when God tried them with drought and famine, and his supplications for the dispossessed when God delivered them from the hands of the Quraysh, and other such miracles.
However, both of the above meanings do not fit the context of the verses.
Examining Narrations
- In Rūḥ al-Maʿānī, about the verse And [as for] those who dispute about God…, it is narrated from Ibn ʿAbbās and Mujāhid:
This verse was revealed about a group of the Jews who tried to turn people away from Islam and misguide them by saying: “Our scripture came before your scripture and our prophet came before your prophet, so our religion is better than yours!” Or, according to another narration: “…so we are more entitled to God than you!”
- In al-Durr al-Manthūr, Ibn Mundhir narrates from ʿIkrimah:
When the verse, When there comes the help of God and the victory… () was revealed, the idolaters in Mecca said to the faithful who were amongst them: “People have entered God’s religion in droves, so get out from amongst us, why are you still here with us?” Then the verse was revealed, And [as for] those who dispute about God….
Author’s comments: The meaning of the verse does not match with what the narration says, as there is no real disputation in the story. The same applies to the first account, in that it does not explain the words after He has been responded to.
This expression here and elsewhere implies that it is the religion of Islam which was revealed to Prophet Muḥammad. (Pub.) ↩︎