He turned away from them and said: “My people, I delivered to you my Lord’s messages and

counselled you sincerely. How, then, could I grieve for people who persist in unbelief.” (93)

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It is in this complicated multitude of links and relations that human history is formed, influenced by man’s strengths and weakness, the guidance he receives, the righteousness he tries to maintain, his contacts with this world and with the world beyond, and his dealings with the material and the spiritual in this universe, and ultimately with God’s will. It is from all these dealings that his history is formed, and in the light of this extreme complexity that his history should be explained.

Those who try to explain human history in either economic, political, biological, spiritual, psychological or rational terms look only at one aspect of the interactive elements that influence man, or the distinctly separate worlds with which he deals.

Only the Islamic explanation of human history takes such a broad view which encompasses all this complexity and looks at human history in such a perspective.

Here we have some real scenes of this greatly complex history. In the first scene of creation, at which we have already looked, all the worlds and the elements, apparent and hidden, which man will have to deal with were present right in the first moment.

We have seen the essential abilities given to man, and his honour in the Supreme Society, when the angels were ordered to prostrate themselves to him and God Himself announced his birth. We have also seen his weakness and how it has been exploited by his enemy. We have seen his fall to earth and how he has to deal with its elements and the laws of nature as they operate in it.

We then saw that as man fell to earth, he was a believer in his Lord, appealing for forgiveness, and giving the pledge of his vicegerency on earth, which committed him to follow the guidance that he would receive from his Lord and not to follow Satan or his own caprice. In order to help him fulfil that pledge, the first experience was granted to him. Time passed and man had to swim in the sea of the universe, with waves taking him this way and that. All the complicated elements both within him and in the universe continued to have an impact on his life. Here we see him having been led to a state of ignorance, or jāhiliyyah. It is true that man may forget or he overcome by his weakness. That gives power to his enemy, Satan, and hence man must be rescued.

When man fell to earth, he repented and sought forgiveness for his sin, pledging to follow guidance and always to believe in God’s oneness, but here we find him having strayed far away, associating partners with God. He has been thrown far off course, but he has still the guidance which could bring him back. He has the divine message. Indeed God’s mercy has dictated that man is never left without guidance.

Here in this sūrah we see the procession of faith, with its standard bearers, God’s noble messengers, Noah, Hūd, Şāliĥ, Lot, Shu`ayb, Moses and Muhammad peace be upon them all. We see how these noble messengers try, by God’s guidance, to rescue mankind from the precipice into which Satan attempts to sink them. Scenes of the struggle between guidance and error, truth and falsehood, the noble messengers and

the evil ones from among the jinn and humans are portrayed here. We also see at every stage how the unbelievers are destroyed and how the believers are rescued.

It is not always that stories are related in the Qur’ān according to chronological order, but here in this sūrah they are, because the sūrah gives a glimpse of the line followed by humanity ever since its first creation. It also portrays how those in the procession of faith try to rescue man every time he strays far away from the right path. As we look at this panoramic scene we can detect certain broad lines which deserve to be discussed briefly before we look at the passage in detail.

Fallacy in the Study of Comparative Religion

1. Human beings often stray from the path of guidance from where they started in order to sink into a state of ignorance, or jāhiliyyah, that is characterized by associating partners with God. This happens as a result of the interplay of the complex elements that exist in man’s own constitution and the elements which he has to deal with. When this state of affairs is reached, God sends a messenger to human beings explaining to them the very same truth they had had before sinking into jāhiliyyah. Some of them write their own destruction, while others are able to spare themselves by returning to the truth of faith.

These are the ones who accept that they have a single God and submit willingly and totally to Him alone. It is they who listen to their messenger as he says to them: “My people, worship God alone: you have no deity other than Him.” (Verses 59, 65, 73, 85) This is indeed the essence of the divine faith throughout human history. Every messenger preached this same message to his people who had succumbed to Satan’s design and associated partners with God, although these partners may differ in different jāhiliyyah societies. It is this basic truism that is at the core of the battle between truth and falsehood. It is people’s attitudes to this basic fact that puts them in the camp of those who are destroyed, or those who are saved by God. The Qur’ān relates how all these messengers expressed this essential fact in their various languages, using the same wording throughout: “My people, worship God alone: you have no deity other than Him.” This serves to emphasize the unity of the divine faith throughout history, even in its verbal expression. The wording itself is so precise in expressing the essence of faith, and its repeated usage portrays in a very tangible way the unity of this faith. This is in itself significant.

This emphasis the Qur’ān places on the unity of the divine faith serves to show the great divide between the Qur’ānic method and the approach of comparative religion. We can see very clearly that there has never been any gradual approach to the basic concept of faith, or development of that concept,

which all messengers have preached as they received it from God. Those who speak of the development or progress of human faith and include the divine message in this gradual development make a claim that is at variance with what God states. As we see clearly in the Qur’ān, divine faith has always stressed the same basic concept which the Qur’ān relates in the same wording:

“My people, worship God alone: you have no deity other than Him.” This God, to whom all messengers refer, is “the Lord of all the worlds” who will gather all human beings for the reckoning on a great day. No messenger sent by God has ever preached a belief in a Lord of a particular tribe, nation or race, and no messenger preached a belief in a duality or multiplicity of Godhead. No messenger urged his people to worship totems, stars, spirits or idols. No religion sanctioned by God omitted to speak of a life to come, as claimed by so-called ‘religious experts’ who study the different forms of ignorance and claim that such ignorant beliefs were the religions known to humanity in those particular periods of time.

All messengers, one after the other, preached the message of God’s absolute oneness and His Lordship over the universe, as well as the reckoning and reward on the Day of Judgement. But the deviation that took place with every new form of jāhiliyyah led to a multitude of ignorant concepts. It is these concepts that are studied by ‘experts in religion’ who claim that they form the line of religious progress.

At any rate, we have here what God states, and it is the truth that we should follow, particularly those of us who tackle this subject when they explain the Islamic faith or defend it. Those who do not believe in the Qur’ān may say what they want, but God tells the truth and His word is final.

2. Every one of God’s messengers peace be upon them all came to his people after they had deviated from the principle of monotheism which was already established in their community by their earlier prophet or messenger. The first generation of human beings were monotheists, believing in God, the supreme Lord of the universe. This was the faith in which Adam and his wife believed.

When the Prophet Noah (peace be upon him) was sent after humanity had deviated into polytheism, he called on his people to return to the monotheistic faith and to believe in God alone. Then the floods destroyed the unbelievers and only the believers survived to repopulate the earth believing in God alone, as they were taught by the Prophet Noah. Succeeding generations did likewise but after a long period of time, they began to deviate into ignorance as did those who lived earlier. With the Prophet Hūd, the same story happened again with the unbelievers being destroyed by great storms. The story was repeated again and again.

Every one of these messengers was sent to his people and he said to them:

“My people, worship God alone: you have no deity other than Him.” Every one also said: “I am giving you honest counsel.” In this way, every messenger made it clear to his people that the matter was very serious, and that their arrogant refusal to accept the faith could land them in great trouble in this life and expose them to a heavier punishment in the hereafter. He also expressed his keen desire that his people should follow divine guidance. However, on each occasion the notables in the community and those who were in leading positions stood against the truth, refusing to submit themselves to God, the Lord of all mankind. It is submission to God alone which is the central issue in the divine faith in all its forms of expression contained in the messages delivered by God’s messengers. Faced with such a stubborn refusal, each one of those messengers declared his stand, totally opposed to tyranny and evil. In the case of each messenger, his people were split into two communities on the basis of faith. Thus, the ties of nationality and family relations were severed to be replaced by the ties of faith. With such a split, God made a judgement between the community following his guidance and the one deviating from the truth. This judgement brought about the destruction of the unbelievers and rescued those who submitted to God. It is God’s law that no such judgement be passed until the respective community is divided into two on the basis of faith, with its followers declaring their submission to God alone, disassociating themselves from their compatriots who followed some other faiths and making their own stand very clear. This is endorsed by the history of the divine faith ever since the early days of human life.

3. The central issue in every message was the same: that all people should submit to God alone, their Lord and the Lord of the universe. Such submission and the removal of authority from all its usurpers is the foundation of every good thing in human life. The Qur’ān does not go into any great details of those earlier messages, after explaining this common denominator in all divine messages. The details are based on this basic principle. The importance of this central issue is the reason why the Qur’ān highlights it in this way, and singles it out in painting the main features of the procession of faith. We should remember here what we have said in our Prologue to the sixth sūrah, Cattle, or al-An`ām, [Vol. V], that this central issue provided the subject matter of all Qur’ānic revelations in Makkah, while the revelations vouchsafed to the Prophet in Madinah outlined Islamic law as it addressed the needs of the community of believers.

This religion of ours has a central truth, and it adopts a very distinctive approach in outlining this truth. The approach is in no way less important

than the truth itself. Therefore, we must know the basic truth outlined by Islam and follow the approach in which it is outlined. This approach highlights, frequently repeats and endorses the fact of God’s oneness. This is the reason why this basic issue stands out in the stories given in this sūrah.

4. These accounts describe the nature of faith and the nature of unbelievers among human beings. It shows two types of hearts: one ready to receive the faith and another ready to deny it. In the case of every messenger, those who believed were willing to submit themselves to God and obey His messenger.

They did not find it surprising that God chose one of them to deliver His message warning them against disbelief. The unbelievers in each case were those unwilling to relinquish the authority they had usurped and to acknowledge that it belonged to God alone, to whom all creation and all authority belonged. They were unwilling to listen to a single person among them. Those were the great ones, the chiefs who enjoyed positions of authority and leadership among their people. Thus we can recognize the central point in this faith, namely, that of sovereignty and authority. Those leaders were always aware of the meaning of what each messenger said: “Worship God alone: you have no deity other than Him”; and his statement: “I am only a messenger from the Lord of the universe.”

They felt that acceptance of God’s oneness meant that sovereignty would be acknowledged to belong to its rightful owner, God, the only Lord, in the universe. What they had usurped of it would have to be restored to Him. They were ready to resist that even to the point of their destruction. They were not prepared to learn the lessons of earlier communities. On the contrary, they were prepared to follow in their footsteps to destruction and even to hell. The doom that befell those communities follows the same consistent pattern: a community forgets God’s message and moves away from His guidance; a messenger is sent to deliver a message of warning; the same community adopts an arrogant attitude refusing to submit to God; the lure of affluence causes further disregard of the warning and even an invitation to hasten doom; persecution of the believers who are determined to stick to their faith;

and finally destruction of the arrogant unbelievers in accordance with God’s law that has remained in operation throughout history.

5. Equipped with power, falsehood does not tolerate even the mere existence of the truth. Even when the truth wants to stay well away from falsehood, leaving judgement between them to God, falsehood will not accept this attitude. It will continue to chase the truth and persecute it. The Prophet Shu`ayb said to his people: “If there be some among you who believe in the message with which I am sent, and others who do not believe, then be patient until God shall

judge between us. He is the best of all judges.” (Verse 87) But they did not accept this offer from him. They could not tolerate seeing the truth in existence, or seeing a group of people freed from the tyranny of evil and submitting to God alone. “Said the great ones among his people, who gloried in their arrogance: ‘We shall indeed expel you, Shu`ayb and your fellow believers from our land unless you return to our fold.’” (Verse 88) At this juncture, Shu`ayb declared his commitment to the truth, and refused the tyrants’ offer: “He said: ‘Even though we are unwilling? We should be guilty of fabricating lies against God, if we were to return to your ways after God has saved us from them. ‘(Verses 88-89)

This will teach the advocates of Islam that the battle against tyranny is imposed on them. They simply cannot avoid it, no matter how they try, because the forces of evil will never let them alone unless they abandon their faith and accept the beliefs of tyrannical forces. They must remember, however, that God has rescued them from those beliefs as soon as they declared their submission to God alone and freed their hearts from submission to tyranny. Hence, they must, by necessity, fight their battle, remaining steadfast, until God grants them victory. They have to say, as the Prophet Shu`ayb said: “In God we place our trust. Our Lord, lay open the truth between us and our people; for You are the best to lay open the truth.” (Verse 89) Then, they should let God’s law run its course as it has done before in all periods of history.

Putting Human Life Back on the Right Course

The procession of faith, led by the noble messengers God has sent to mankind, is clearly demonstrated in the sūrah. This is preceded by the greater procession of faith in the whole universe: “Your Lord is God who has created the heavens and the earth in six aeons, and is established on the throne. He covers the day with the night in swift pursuit. The sun, the moon and the stars are made subservient to His command. Surely all creation and all authority belong to Him. Blessed is God, the Lord of the worlds.” (Verse 54)

All messengers sent by God advocated submission to the Supreme Being who created the heavens and the earth, and established Himself on the throne, and who set the night to pursue the day, and set the sun, moon and stars in motion making them subservient to His will. It is He who has created all and possesses authority over all. Indeed, His messengers call on all mankind to submit to God, the Lord of all the worlds, striving to save mankind from Satan’s schemes who endeavours to divert humanity away from God and to a state of ignorance. That state has endless forms,

In document Fi Dhilal al Quran - Syed Qutb - Volume 6 (Surah 7) (Page 104-133)