Overview (Verses 150 - 152)

Deny One Part, Deny All
 
The sūrah then moves on to speak about those people who received revelations from God prior to the advent of Islam. It then speaks about the Jews in particular and, at a later stage, about the Christians. It is well known that the Jews speak openly in evil terms about Mary and Jesus. They have no basis whatsoever for what they say against them. It is all their own fabrication. Their evil accusations are mentioned in this passage which links it to the two preceding verses in which God orders believers not to speak evil openly. The whole passage is part of the campaign conducted by the Qur’ān against the enemies of the Muslim community in Madinah. Similar parts of this campaign were given in this sūrah and the two preceding it. We will now discuss this campaign as it unfolds in this sūrah.
 
Those who deny God and His messengers, and want to make a distinction between [belief in] God and [belief in] His messengers, and say: “We believe in some but we deny others”, and want to pursue a path in-between those, in truth, are unbelievers. We have prepared for unbelievers humiliating suffering. As for those who believe in God and His messengers and make no distinction between any of them — to them He will give their reward. God is indeed Much-Forgiving, Merciful. (Verses 150-152)
 
The Jews claimed that they believed in their prophets, but they denied the messages of Jesus and Muĥammad (peace be upon them). The Christians, on the other hand, believed in earlier prophets but stopped at Jesus, though they gave him a Divine nature. They, however, also denied the message of Muĥammad (peace be upon him). The Qur’ān denounces both groups, and explains that the proper and comprehensive concept of faith is based on believing in God and His Messenger, making no distinction between God on the one hand and His messengers on the other, or between the messengers themselves. Embracing such a wide view, Islam is then the only religion acceptable to God, because it emphasises the oneness of God and its practical effects on people’s lives and beliefs.
 
Believing in the absolute unity of God necessitates that we believe that the religion His messengers preached to mankind is also a single faith, and that His messengers who have been entrusted with conveying it to mankind belong to one group. Any denial of the unity of messengers or that the message itself is a single message, is a denial of the oneness of God and a misconception of what His oneness means. The religion and the code God has given to mankind come from the same source and share the same basis and essence. For this reason, those who wish to make a distinction between God and His messengers so that they profess to believe in God and deny His messengers and those who want to make a distinction between some messengers and others, believing in the former and denying the latter, are described as ones “who deny God and His messengers”. The two distinctions they want to draw represent a denial of them all.
 
Faith is one complete whole that cannot be divided into parts. To believe in God means to accept that He is One, which, by necessity, means that the religion and the constitution which He has devised to serve as a basis on which all human life is built is also a single religion. It implies that the messengers who have preached this religion in accordance with God’s will and His revelations are also a single unity. Attitudes to them all must be the same. Only through absolute disbelief can this unity be dismantled, although people may claim that they believe in some messengers and deny others. The only reward for them is that God has prepared humiliating suffering for them all: “Those, in truth, are unbelievers. We have prepared for unbelievers humiliating suffering.” (Verse 151)
 
Muslims, on the other hand, are those whose ideological concepts require them to believe in God and all His messengers without any distinction. All messengers are highly respected by them, and all Divine faiths are true, unless distortion has crept into them. In this case, they are no longer Divine, in spite of the fact that parts of them may be still maintained in their original forms. Faith is a single unity derived from the fact that there is only one God. It is He who has devised for human beings a single faith and a single system and He who has sent His messengers to explain them to people. To a Muslim, the procession of believers is ever-continuing, led by Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muĥammad and all the other messengers, (peace be upon them all). Their own affiliation to this procession is very genuine indeed, since they are the custodians of this great task and the heirs to an ever- continuing blessing. There can be no distinction, no isolation and no splitting asunder. True faith is a complete whole. They alone have inherited the religion of the truth, beyond which lie only falsehood and error. This is the definition of the religion of Islam, which is the only faith acceptable to God. Such are the Muslims who deserve to be rewarded by God for their deeds, and deserve to be forgiven for what they may have omitted: “To them, He will give their reward. God is indeed Much-Forgiving, Merciful.’’ (Verse 152)
 
Islam takes such a strict view on the question of the unity of faith in God and His messengers because it is the proper foundation on which a believer builds his concept of his Lord, and the well regulated universe where no clash or conflict takes place. It is the faith worthy of a man who recognises the same law of creation throughout the universe and which groups the believers together in one rank opposed to all groups of unbelievers. That rank, however, does not admit those who have distorted faiths, though they may have Divine origins. It admits only those who advocate the proper, pure, undistorted faith.
 
On this basis, Islam is the only true faith and the Muslims are “the best community ever raised for mankind”. This description, however, applies only to those Muslims who have a proper and pure faith which they implement. It does not apply to everyone born into a Muslim family or to anyone who just pays lip-service to Islam.
 
In this light, those who try to draw a distinction between God and His messengers, or between some messengers and others appear to stand far away from the rank of believers. They seem to try to break the unity brought about by God and seem to deny the concept of Oneness upon which belief in God is founded.