Surah al-An`am (The Cattle) 6 : 133

Overview (Verses 133 - 135)

Emphasis on Practical Details
 
God sends His messengers to human beings as a gesture of His grace. He Himself has no need of them, their worship or even their belief in Him. When they do well, they only benefit themselves both in this life and in the life to come. His grace is also seen in the fact that He grants a chance to the disobedient generation which continues to do wrong and to deny Him altogether, while He is able to destroy it completely and bring in its place a different generation: “Your Lord is the self-sufficient One, the Merciful. If He so wills, He may remove you altogether and cause whom He wills to succeed you, just as He brought you into being out of other people’s seed.” (Verse 133) Therefore, human beings must never forget that they survive only by God’s grace, and that their existence depends on His will. Whatever power they enjoy, has been given to them by God. Theirs is not an intrinsic power or a self-determined existence. No one has any choice with regard to their coming into being, and no one determines what sort of power he can exercise. To remove them altogether and to bring another community in their place is very easy for God. After all, it is He who has brought them into being from the seed of a past generation so that they succeed that generation by His will.
 
This verse shakes the hearts of those wrongdoers who scheme, exceed their bounds, claim for themselves the authority to forbid things and make others lawful, and who argue about the validity of God’s law. Yet they remain all the time within God’s grasp. He can let them be or remove them altogether when He wills, and bring about whomever He pleases to succeed them. At the same time, these strong tones reassure the Muslim community of the rightness of its course of action, at a time when it faces the wicked designs, power and hostility of those who are evil. All are powerless when it comes to resisting God’s will.
 
This is followed by another strong warning note: “That which you are promised will inevitably come, and you cannot elude it.” (Verse 134) You are all the time within God’s grasp and subject to His will. It is He who determines your fate, and you cannot resist Him or escape from your fate. The Day of Resurrection, a scene from which has just been painted, awaits you. It will inevitably come. When it does, nothing will avail you against God Almighty. The final comment includes an implicit, but highly effective warning: “Say: ‘My people! Do all that may be in your power, and I will do what I can. You shall come to know to whom the future belongs. Never will the wrongdoers attain success.” (Verse 135)
 
This is a warning made by one who is certain that he follows the truth and who has complete trust in the power of the truth, and of the great power that supports the truth. The warning is made by God’s Messenger (peace be upon him) who says that he is disclaiming any responsibility for them, confident that what he has is the truth, absolutely certain of his way. He is also certain that what they follow is error and their prospects are very gloomy indeed: “Never will the wrongdoers attain success.” (Verse 135) This is an unfailing rule. Those who associate partners with God will never be successful, because success is granted only by God. Those who do not follow His guidance are in deep error and will end up as miserable losers.
 
Why the Method of Slaughter is Important
 
This passage falls between two passages which differ greatly: the first speaks of slaughtered animals and the need to mention God’s name at the time of slaughter, while the next passage speaks about fruit, cattle and children which are pledged for charity or made as offerings. This middle passage includes a number of facts which relate to pure faith and a number of scenes and statements that relate to the nature of believing in God or denying Him. It also speaks of the battle between those who are evil on the one side and the prophets and those who follow them on the other. It also contains a large number of inspirational elements similar to those included earlier in the sūrah when it spoke of the basic principles of faith.
 
It is worth our while to reflect on the fact that the Qur’ān attaches such importance to practical details of human life and how they are brought in line with God’s law. It also emphasizes that they must always be based on the fundamental principle that the authority to legislate, or indeed the overall lordship in the universe, belongs only to God. It is pertinent perhaps to ask here why the Qur’ān gives such importance to this question.
 
The answer from the Islamic point of view, is that it is the summing-up of the question of faith and religion. In Islam, the central principle is belief in God’s oneness: He is certainly the only God in the universe. When a Muslim declares that he believes that there is no deity other than God, he purges his mind of all traces of any concept that assigns Godhead to anyone other than God Almighty. Consequently, he is absolutely clear that all sovereignty and the authority to legislate belong solely to God. Making laws and regulations on matters of detail is the same as making them on larger issues: it is an exercise of the authority to legislate, which means that it is an exercise of Godhead. A Muslim can never accept this. Religion in the Islamic lexicon means that people submit in their practical life, as well as in their faith, to God alone. They accept no submission to anyone else. If issuing legislation is an exercise of Godhead, accepting such legislation is submission to that Godhead. A Muslim cannot attain the status of a believer, unless he submits to God alone in all matters, and rejects all submission to anyone else.
 
It is in this light that we should view the emphasis given in the Qur’ān to these principles of faith. We see an example of this emphasis in this sūrah which was revealed in Makkah, before the Prophet’s migration to Madinah. As we have already said, the parts of the Qur’ān which were revealed in the Makkan period did not tackle the question of the Islamic system of government or the laws that govern the life of the Muslim community. They simply tackled the question of faith. Nevertheless, the sūrah attaches such great importance to the establishment of this basic principle concerning God’s sovereignty and His authority to legislate for human life. This is profoundly significant in itself.