Overview (Verses 198 - 199)

What Reward for a Long, Hard Struggle

In contrast to that brief enjoyment and fleeting prosperity there are for the believers eternity and blessings from God:

As for those who fear their Lord, theirs shall be gardens through which running waters flow, in which they shall abide, a gift of welcome from God. That which is with God is best for the truly virtuous. There are indeed among the people of earlier revelations some who believe in God and in what has been bestowed from on high upon you and in what has been bestowed upon them, humbling themselves before God. They do not barter away God’s revelations for a trifling price. They shall have their reward with their Lord. Swift is God’s reckoning. (Verses 198-199)

Any comparison shall remove the slightest doubt that what is with God is infinitely better for truly righteous and virtuous people. No one will entertain any thought that what the God-fearing finally receive is much superior than what the disbelievers enjoy. Hence, anyone endowed with insight will unhesitatingly choose for himself the share chosen by the people who have been described earlier as being ‘endowed with understanding.”

At this point, when the context is one of cultivating the believers’ characters and establishing the essential values according to the Islamic concept of life, God does not promise the believers victory, or that they should triumph over their enemies, or that they should be established in any land. He indeed does not promise them anything in this life. He does not include in His promise here anything of what He promises them elsewhere in the Qur’ān or of what He has undertaken to provide for the believers as they engage in battle against His enemies.

Here, He promises them only one thing, namely, “that which is with God.” For this is the basic aspect of this message, and the starting point of this faith. God wants the believers to totally disown every aim, purpose or aspiration, including their desire to see their faith triumph and the enemies of God defeated. God wants the believers to free themselves even from this desire. He wants them to leave this matter altogether to Him so that they are free from all ambitions, including those which are not personal. What is required of them is that they be ready to give and sacrifice, to fulfil their duty and perform their obligations. There is nothing for them of the comforts and enjoyments of this life. Moreover, there is no promise of victory, fulfilment of aims or gaining of power. All that is promised is in the Hereafter.

But then victory takes place and the believers are established in the land. This, however, is not part of the deal. There is nothing in the contract which stipulates any returns in this life. All that it speaks of is fulfilment of the deal made when Islam was persecuted in Makkah. The terms were very clear. God did not give the Muslims victory and the reins of power to assume the role of leadership of mankind until they had rid themselves totally of all ambitions which relate to this life and fulfilled their obligations with total dedication.

Muĥammad ibn Ka`b al-Qurażī and others relate that when people from the two tribes of Madinah, the Aws and the Khazraj, pledged their loyalty to the Prophet and asked him to emigrate to Madinah, `Abdullāh ibn Rawāĥah said to the Prophet: “Stipulate whatever conditions you wish to make for your Lord and for yourself.” The Prophet said: “For my Lord, I stipulate that you shall worship Him alone and associate no partners with Him. For myself, I make the condition that you shall protect me as you protect yourselves and your property.” They asked: “What shall we get if we fulfil our pledge?” The Prophet answered: “Paradise.” They said: “It is a profitable deal. We accept no going back and we will never go back on it ourselves.”

The Prophet’s answer must be noted here. All he said was: “Paradise.” He promised nothing more. He did not say to them that they will have victory, power, unity of the Arabian tribes, leadership, wealth, prosperity or anything else. It is true that God gave them all that and allowed them to enjoy it, but that was extra, and certainly not part of the deal.

Their attitude is also worth noting. They viewed it as a deal between a buyer and a seller. Once struck, no more bargaining could be done.

This is how God cultivated and disciplined the community in whose hands it was His will to place the control of the earth, and to whom He assigned the leadership of mankind and custody of the great faith. But He only assigned it that role after it had freed itself totally of all desires and ambitions, including those which related to its message, and the system to be implemented. Custody of this faith, the greatest treasure, could not come about until this community demonstrated that it did not care about itself and until it surrendered itself totally to God.

Just before the sūrah ends, a fresh reference is made to the people of earlier revelations which states that some of them have similar beliefs to those of the Muslims. These are considered to have joined the ranks of the Muslims and adopted their ways. Hence, they also deserve the same reward:

There are indeed among the people of earlier revelations some who believe in God and in what has been bestowed from on high upon you and in what has been bestowed upon them, humbling themselves before God. They do not barter away God’s revelations for a trifling price. They shall have their reward with their Lord. Swift is God’s reckoning. (Verse 199)

This reference is made in order to bring to a conclusion the long account, given in the sūrah, of the people of earlier revelations. The sūrah has referred to many groups among them and to many of their attitudes. Now that the sūrah is speaking about true faith and how people should accept it, and portraying a scene of supplication to God and His answering of believers’ prayers, it states that some of the people of earlier revelations have also followed the same path to its final end. They have believed in all God’s revelations and have not sought to isolate God’s messengers from Him, nor have they discriminated against any of His messengers. They believe in what was revealed to them in former times, and in what has been revealed to the Muslims. This is the distinctive characteristic of a faith which looks at all believers with loving tenderness and visualises the whole procession of the faithful as leading directly to God. It looks at the Divine system as a complete whole. The one characteristic of those believers among the people of earlier revelations which is highlighted here is humility before God and the refusal to barter away God’s revelations for a trifling price. They are thus set apart from the ranks of the people of the Scriptures whose main characteristic is one of boastfulness and of being totally unashamed before God. Moreover, they fabricate lies and seek cheap worldly pleasures.

To those believers among the people of earlier revelations God promises the same reward as He gives to Muslim believers. God does not delay the reward of those who deal with Him. Far be it for Him to do so. “Swift is God’s reckoning.”