Surah al-Ma'idah (The Table) 5 : 105

Overview (Verse 105)

Individual Responsibility
 
When the situation of the unbelievers was explained, the sūrah makes a statement showing the believers as a separate group, distinguished by the duties and obligations they have to fulfil. It defines for them what attitude they should take to other people. It tells them that they may look forward to no reward other than that of God. They should aspire to no reward in this life. “Believers, it is but for your own souls that you are accountable. Those who go astray can do you no harm if you [yourselves] are on the right path. To God you all must return. He will then make you understand all that you were doing [in life].” (Verse 105)
 
It is a case of a complete break between them and those who are hostile to their cause. Moreover, they should have a relationship of mutual support among themselves, since they form one community: “Believers, it is but for your own souls that you are accountable. Those who go astray can do you no harm if you [yourselves] are on the right path.” (Verse 105)
 
What this verse says to the believers is that they should take care of themselves, purifying their souls and committing themselves wholly to their community, paying no attention to what others may say or do, even though they may go far astray. As believers, they are a separate unit, independent of all others. In this unit, they take care of one another, in complete mutual solidarity. Other than this, they have no need for any bonds or ties of loyalty with anyone.
 
This single verse establishes some highly important principles with regard to the Muslim community and its relations with other communities. The Muslim community constitutes God’s party, while those who are opposed to it belong to Satan’s party. Hence, no ties of loyalty or solidarity may exist between the two, as they do not have any ideology in common, nor do they share in any goal, responsibility, means of action or result and reward.
 
The Muslim community must demonstrate total solidarity within its ranks, where all its members exchange good and sincere counsel, following Divine guidance. This makes them a community apart. When this becomes a reality, the Muslim community need not worry if everyone else goes astray, since it is committed to following God’s guidance.
 
This, however, does not mean that the Muslim community should abandon its task of calling on all people to follow Divine guidance, represented in its own faith, law and system. Once the Muslim community has established its system in its land, its continuing duty is to call on all mankind, urging them to follow the guidance God has provided for their happiness. It should also discharge its trust, ensuring justice among all people, and steering them away from error.
 
The fact that the Muslim community is accountable only for itself and that it suffers no harm as the result of anyone going astray as long as it follows God’s guidance does not mean that it is not accountable if it fails to enjoin what is good and forbids what is wrong. This is certainly a task that it must fulfil within its own ranks first, and then throughout the whole earth. The first thing in “what is right” is submission to God, or Islam, and implementing His law, while the first thing in “what is wrong” is to sink into a state of ignorance and usurp God’s authority, abandoning His law. Any judgement of ignorance is a judgement of tyranny, which is defined as an authority at variance with God’s authority. The Muslim community is in a position of trust over its own affairs in the first instance, then over the affairs of all humanity.
 
The purpose in defining the limits of responsibility in this verse is not to say, as some people of old understood and some today understand, that a believer is not required individually, to enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong when he or she has ascertained that they follow the right guidance. Nor does it mean that, once the Muslim community has set itself on its course following Divine guidance while others remain astray, it is not required, collectively, to establish God’s law in the land. This verse of the Qur’ān does not absolve Muslim individuals or the Muslim community of their ongoing responsibility to combat evil and error and to resist tyranny. The worst form of tyranny is to usurp God’s authority and Godhead and to force people to be subservient to any law other than His own. In fact no following of guidance whether by individuals or the community is sufficient while such evil exists.
 
Al-Nasā’ī, al-Tirmidhī, Abū Dāwūd and Ibn Mājah all report that Abū Bakr once said after praising God and glorifying Him: “People often read this verse, `Believers, it is but for your own souls that you are accountable,” but they misunderstand it. I have heard God’s Messenger (peace be upon him) say: When people see evil and take no action to alter it, they render themselves exposed to God’s punishment that encompasses them all.” Thus, the first Caliph corrected what some of his contemporaries imagined the verse to mean. Today, we are in much greater need for this correction, because changing an evil situation has become much harder. Hence, it is all too easy for the weak to interpret the verse in a way that exempts them from putting up any struggle against evil.
 
For certain, this religion cannot establish its roots without effort and struggle. It needs followers who spare no effort to guide people to it in order to liberate them from subservience to other people so that they may submit to God alone. Such followers will do their utmost to establish the right concept of Godhead and to repel those who usurp God’s authority so that God’s law is seen to be implemented in human life. Such efforts are peaceful when the misguided ones are individuals in need of direction. However, force will be needed when there is a tyrannical power turning people away from God’s guidance, and standing in the way of establishing the Islamic faith and implementing God’s law. It is only then that the believers will have fulfilled their responsibility and those who persist in error are punished by God: “To God you all must return. He will then make you understand all that you were doing [in life].” (Verse 105)