Chapter 3: Surat Aal-'Imran (The House 'Imran), verse 100-103
Translation:
Believers, if you yield to a group from among those who were given the Book, they will turn you back from faith to unbelief. But how can you disbelieve when God's revelations are recited to you and His own Apostle is in your midst? He that holds fast to God shall be guided to a straight path. Believers, fear God as you rightly should, and when death comes, die true Muslims. Cling one and all to the faith of God and let nothing divide you. Remember the favor God has bestowed upon you: how, after your enmity, He united your hearts, so that you are now brothers through His grace; and how He delivered you from the abyss of fire when you stood on the very brink of it. Thus God makes plain to you His relations, so that you may be rightly guided. (100-103)
Commentary:
This world
is a place of trial. Here man is forever exposed to Satan’s evil
designs/temptations. As such there is always the possibility of Satan’s
succeeding in turning one back from belief to unbelief/rendering one apostate.
Then in this state of apostasy his time of departure from this world might come,
making it almost impossible for him to make amends. This is why it is necessary
for man to be cautious constantly, he should become his own Keeper. One form of
this turning back from faith is when the parts of religion are changed in order
to change the order of priorities. What is important is relegated to the
secondary place and vice versa. The actual cord/string of religion is taqwa, fear
of God, that is, till one’s last breath, adopting an attitude which is formed
from one’s sense of being accountable to God for all of his actions. This is
the straight path. Deviation from it is when some relative aspect/something else
is taken to be the basics of religion and is stressed in a manner as only fear
of God and concern for Akhirah need to be stressed. Whenever such alterations
are made in a religion, it necessarily results in the division and differences
among its followers. One group stresses one relative aspect, another group
stresses another relative aspect resulting in a number of sects in the Muslim
community. While from the former attitude that is, taqwa (fear of God)
one God becomes the center of attention while from the latter, miscellaneous
issues/problems become the center of attention. When in religion the whole
emphasis is given on taqwa unity is produced, whereas when other things
are stressed disunity is produced which results in all the evil that lead man to
the brink of hell. Disunity in a group will result in calamity both in this
world as well as in the Hereafter.
There
were two tribes, Aus and Khazraj, inhabiting Medina before Islam. Both were
Arabs but they continuously waged war amongst themselves. These mutual strikes
had considerably weakened them. When they accepted Islam all the hostilities
ended, they became brothers of one another.