Chapter 3: Surat Aal-'Imran (The House 'Imran), verse 92-99

Translation:

You shall never be truly righteous until you give in alms what you dearly cherish. The alms you give are known to God. All food was lawful to the Israelites except what Israel forbade himself before the Torah was revealed. Say: 'Bring the Torah and read it, if what you say be true.' Those that after this invent falsehoods about God are great transgressors. Say:' God has declared the truth. Follow the faith of Abraham. He was an upright man, no idolater.' The first temple ever to be built for mankind was that at Bakkah, a blessed site, a beacon for the nations. In it there are veritable signs and the spot where Abraham stood. Whoever enters it is safe. Pilgrimage to the House is a duty to God for all who can make the journey. As for the unbelievers, God can surely do without them. Say: 'People of the Book, why do you deny the revelations of God? God can surely do without them. Say: ' People of the Book, why do you debar believers from the path of God and seek so make it crooked when you have witnessed all? God is never heedless of what you do. (92-99)

Commentary:

According to the self-made set of religious laws of the Jews eating the meat of camel and rabbit was not lawful while it was lawful in Islam. So the Jews would say that if Islam is a revealed religion why is it that the laws regarding lawful and unlawful are different in Islam from the former revealed religions, similarly they would say how is it that a religion revealed by God can command the direction of prayer to be Kabah instead of Bait al-Maqdis, which has remained the direction for prayer in the teachings of all the prophets so far. So they failed to believe that God can reveal a religion in which Kabah is held to be the direction for prayer.

When the call of truth comes in its pure form people’s interests are in danger/are hit because they had managed to make people believe their self-styled religion to be a religion revealed by God. These people oppose the new messenger by raising different kinds of objection based on fallacy in order to turn people away from the true message. In their self-styled religion the basics of religion are not stressed. Instead hairsplitting in the relative aspects of religion produces whatever one’s real life might be, the perfection of virtue is considered to fully adhere to this man-made apparent form (form, not spirit is all that matters). That is they would shun ‘rabbits’ meat by saying that it was not consumed by their saints but along with this many illegal things have been legalized by them. They would consider it of utmost importance to face exactly straight like the pole’s needle to the direction facing Bait al-Maqdis. But they show no interest in making their daily activities God-oriented. The credit of virtue is earned by making sacrifices and not by the mere fact of opting for a religious form. God’s true servant is one who offers his lord the gift of Love, for whom no material thing is dearer than God. He is ever ready to pay the price of prestige for recognizing the truth; he is ever ready to spend his wealth and to endanger his children’s future for the cause of God. When one is ready to pay the price of his dearest thing he will be counted among the virtuous and God-worshipper in the eyes of God.

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