Overview (Verses 159 – 163)

Suppressing the Truth
 
The verses that follow launch a sharp attack on those Jews who, as mentioned earlier, concealed facts that were revealed in their Scriptures, in the wake of the controversy they created over the change of the direction of prayer from Jerusalem to the Ka`bah. This suggests that they continued to exploit the situation, especially after Makkah was also instituted as the place of the pilgrimage for Muslims.
 
Those who conceal the clear proofs and guidance We bestowed from on high, after We have expounded it clearly for mankind in the Book, shall be cursed by God and by others who curse. Excepted, however, shall be those who repent, mend their ways and make known the Truth: from these I shall accept their repentance; for I alone accept repentance and I am the Merciful. Those who reject the faith and die unbelievers shall incur the curse of God, the angels and all mankind. They shall remain under that curse for ever, their torment shall not be alleviated, nor shall they have a respite. (Verses 159-162)
 
The Jews and the Christians were already aware, on the basis of their own Scriptures, of the truth of Muĥammad’s mission. They had little doubt of his honesty and integrity. Nevertheless, they spared no effort to conceal and suppress what their Scriptures had to say about him. Manipulation of religious text and tampering with revealed Scriptures have, for a variety of reasons, been encountered on numerous occasions in history. There have always been people with a propensity for evading the truth, or ignoring or suppressing it, or changing it to suit their own aims and ends. Thy knowingly conceal the truth, suppressing all evidence of the veracity of which they are most certain. They even suppress verses in God’s book so that the truth they expound is kept away from people. They do all this in order to achieve some worldly gain. In fact, we often encounter examples of such suppression of the truth. Such people shall be cursed by God and man. They shall become pariahs, denied God’s mercy and rejected by their fellow men.
 
Exception is, of course, made of those who come to realize their folly, repent and abandon such practices: “Excepted, however, shall be those who repent, mend their ways and make known the Truth: from these I shall accept their repentance; for I alone accept repentance and I am the Merciful.” (Verse 160) The Qur’ān opens the door, as always, for those who repent and make amends, giving them another chance to see the light and make the change within themselves. To prove that the change is genuine, they are required to make up for the past by performing good deeds, being scrupulously honest in their actions, and championing the truth and abiding by it in all they say and do. They must have full confidence in God’s mercy and be certain that He will forgive and reward their repentance.
 
Those who persist and refuse to repent, however, shall meet their nemesis in the worst possible way, because they rejected God’s hospitality and consciously chose to perpetrate evil and falsehood: “Those who reject the faith and die unbelievers shall incur the curse of God, the angels and all mankind They shall remain under that curse for ever, their torment shall not be alleviated, nor shall they have a respite.” (Verses 161-162)
 
This general curse is considered a just reward for their abhorrent behaviour. They shall live as social outcasts, rejected by everyone and bereft of all dignity and respect. Worst of all, they shall incur the curse of God, which is the most devastating of all humiliations.
 
Following that, there is a reiteration of the basic aspects of the concept of God’s oneness. To illustrate these, the sūrah cites a number of natural phenomena in the physical world that testify to God’s power and overall sovereignty. It then portrays a scene from the Day of Resurrection, showing the despair and confusion of those who reject God and deny His power and existence.
 
Your God is the One God: there is no deity but He, the Compassionate, the Merciful. In the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alternation of night and day; in the vessels that sail through the sea with what is useful for mankind; in the water God sends down from the sky giving life to the earth after it had been lifeless, causing all manner of living creatures to multiply on it; in the movement of the winds, and the clouds that run their courses between sky and earth: in all this there are signs for people who use their reason. Yet there are people who worship beings other than God, giving them a status equal to His, loving them as God alone should be loved; whereas the believers love God more than all else. If the unbelievers could but see, as see they will when they are made to suffer, that all might belongs to God alone, and that He is stern in retribution. [On that day] those who were followed will disown their followers and they all shall see their punishment, while all their ties are severed. The followers will say, ‘Would that we had another chance so that we can disown them as they have disowned us!” Thus will God show them their works [in a way which causes them] bitter regrets. They shall never come out of the fire. (Verses 163-167)
 
The oneness of God is the quintessence of faith. On the whole, the debate has never been about God’s existence, however differently his entity, attributes or role in the universe might be viewed or defined by different societies and religions. Man’s nature has always led him to the belief in God. But in recent human history, a new philosophy has emerged, never known in human thinking before, which totally denies the very notion of God. This intellectual monstrosity has very little chance of becoming universal, because it is self-defeating and is invalidated by the very nature and structure of the universe and our own existence in it.
 
The passage, therefore, affirms the principle of God’s oneness as an essential part of true faith and a solid foundation for man’s moral and social systems. The one God is the only deity to be adored and worshipped, and He is also the sole source of man’s moral codes and norms, and the origin of all the laws and regulations that govern and control man’s social, political and economic life and the life of the whole cosmos: “Your God is the One God: there is no deity but He, the Compassionate, the Merciful.” (Verse 163) We cannot fail to note how the truth of God’s oneness is emphatically stressed here in several ways. Thus, the Lord worshipped and obeyed by all creatures is the only God who legislates for all people making clear for them what moral values to uphold. It is from Him that they receive all their legislation.
 
This central concept of Islam is re-emphasized time after time in the Qur’ān, particularly in the parts revealed in Makkah. It is brought up here in the context of preparing the Muslim community for its crucial universal leadership role. The Qur’ān hammers home these concepts so as to leave people in no doubt that the principle of God’s oneness permeates all aspects of life and all parts of existence.
 
God’s sovereignty over this world and His active control of its affairs stem from His grace attributes. He is “the Merciful, the Compassionate.”