Surah al-Ma'idah (The Table) 5 : 69

Overview (Verses 69- 71)

The Truth Versus People’s Fancies
 
This first part of the present passage concludes with a clear statement of the faith which God accepts from people, regardless of what they were called before the message of the last Prophet. It was the faith which united people of all creeds and doctrines in ancient history. “Those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Sabians, and the Christians — anyone who believes in God and the Last Day and does what is right shall have no fear, nor shall they grieve.“ (Verse 69)
 
The passage names four groups: “those who believe” refers to Muslims, and the Jews are the followers of the Prophet Moses. The term Sabians refers, most probably, to those who abandoned the worship of idols before the Prophet Muĥammad’s message, worshiping God alone, following no particular creed. There were a handful of Arabs among them. The Christians are those who followed the Prophet Jesus Christ (peace be upon him).
 
This verse states that whatever their creed was, those who believe in God and the Last Day and do what is right — and it is implicitly understood here and explicitly elsewhere in the Qur’ān that they have done that in accordance with the final Prophet’s message — will attain salvation: “shall have no fear, nor shall they grieve.” (Verse 69) They need not worry about what they used to do or under what title they were classified. The most important title is the last one.
 
What we have been describing is implicitly understood from this Qur’ānic verse. It comes under that part of our faith which is essentially known to all people. It is a primary concept of this faith that the Prophet Muĥammad (peace be upon him) is the last of all prophets and a Messenger of God sent to all mankind. All people, regardless of their religion, creed, belief, race, and nationality, are called upon to believe in his message as he preached it in essence and detail. Anyone who does not believe in him as a Messenger and does not believe in the totality and the details of his message remains in error. God does not accept from him the religion he followed prior to the revelation of Islam. Nor is he included among those described by God as people who “shall have nothing to fear, nor shall they grieve.” (Verse 69)
 
It is this primary concept of faith which a Muslim may not compromise on under the great pressure of the jāhiliyyah or darkness in which humanity lives today. Indeed, a Muslim cannot overlook this concept when he establishes his relations with other people of different creeds and religions. He cannot try to reduce the pressure of ignorance by coming to terms with the followers of other creeds or doctrines, giving them the privilege of having “a faith” acceptable to God and constituting grounds for mutual support.
 
It is God alone who is the patron of believers: “Those who ally themselves with God and His Messenger and the believers (will find that) the party of God will be victorious.” (Verse 56) This is certainly true even though appearances may give a different impression. Moreover, those who believe in God and the Last Day and do what is right, on the basis of the religion of Islam, which is the religion acceptable to God, shall have nothing to fear and shall not grieve.
 
They need have no fear of the forces of evil and darkness and they need have no fear of their own goodly, believing souls. Grief will remain unknown to them.
 
Following this, the sūrah gives us an account of a part of the history of the Children of Israel, the Jews, which shows that they have nothing to stand on and that the message of Islam must be conveyed to them so that they have a chance to believe in the Divine faith. On the other hand, this history shows the Muslims that the nature of the Jews has not changed. Hence, the importance of the Jews will be reduced in their minds and they will not condone any alliance or patronage when they have such an attitude to the truth and to faith: “Surely, We accepted a solemn pledge from the Children of Israel, and We sent to them messengers. But every time a messenger came to them with something that was not to their liking, [they rebelled:] some they denounced as liars and some they put to death. They reckoned no harm would come to them, so they were wilfully blind and deaf [to the truth]. Thereafter, God accepted their repentance: still many of them acted blind and deaf. But God sees all that they do.” (Verses 70-1)
 
This is a fact of ancient history. Their attitude to the Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) was neither the first nor the last. They have become immersed in sin and disobedience and they have repeatedly violated their covenant with God, taking their own caprice and fancies as their deity instead of obeying God, following Divine faith and the guidance of God’s Messengers. Indeed, sin and aggression against the advocates of the truth has become part of their nature: “Surely, We accepted a solemn pledge from the Children of Israel, and We sent to them messengers. But every time a messenger came to them with something that was not to their liking, [they rebelled:] some they denounced as liars and some they put to death.” (Verse 70) Indeed, the history of the Jews and their attitude towards their prophets is full of denunciation and rejection, as well as murder and aggression. It is, indeed, a history of following vain desire instead of Divine guidance.
 
Perhaps this is the reason for giving the Muslim community a long and detailed history of the Israelites. God’s purpose is to warn the Muslim nation against following in the footsteps of the Israelites. In this way those who have good insight and who maintain their bond with God remain aware of these slips and follow the example of the Jewish prophets when they encounter similar experiences to theirs. This is bound to happen since some generations of Muslims will inevitably end up in the same situation as the Jews when the latter strayed away from Divine guidance and their hearts hardened. Such generations of Muslims will do likewise: follow the dictates of desire, reject guidance, treat some of the advocates of truth as liars and kill others.
 
The Jews committed all these sins, thinking that God would not put them to trial and that He would not punish them. They chose to overlook the laws set in operation by God, thinking all the time that they are “God’s chosen people.”
 
“They reckoned no harm would come to them, so they were wilfully blind and deaf [to the truth].” (Verse 71) God stamped their sight and hearing so that whatever they saw or heard was of no benefit to them. “Thereafter, God accepted their repentance,” and He granted them His mercy, but they did not desist, nor did they benefit by their experience. “Still many of them acted blind and deaf. But God sees all that they do.” (Verse 71) He will give them, the reward they deserve according to what He sees of their actions and what He knows of their intentions. They will never he allowed to escape punishment.
 
It is sufficient for the believers to know this old history of the Jews and their present situation to make their believing hearts disown any alliance with them, in the same way as did `Ubādah ibn al-Şāmit. Only hypocrites like `Abdullāh ibn Ubayy ibn Salūl could bring themselves to remain their allies.