Women (Al-Nisa’) النساء 148–152

(a) In spite of knowing Islam to be the true religion, the hypocrites do not want to abandon their worldly interests. Due to this mentality they are distracted, being fully devoted neither to the demands of their religion nor to their worldly interests. They fall between two stools, vacillating between faith and infidelity— between the interests of this world and the Hereafter. Such people remain deprived of God’s succour, which can be earned only by perseverance in God’s cause. Such hypocritical people cannot save themselves from the wrath of God, regardless of how many showy actions they may have performed. In spite of the observance of Islam for appearance’s sake, they are far from it in respect of reality. That is why their reward will be meted out to them in accordance with what they were in reality, and not what they were in terms of appearance. However, even if one errs, God does not become one’s enemy. If wrongdoers are ashamed of their misdeeds, change their life style, divert their full attention to God and take to His path wholeheartedly, then He will surely forgive them. In life one often comes to know about some shortcoming or fault, or vice of oneself, be it of a religious or worldly nature, through the people around oneself. But God disapproves of public criticism that defames the person concerned. Everyone has the right to give his counsel with the motive of reforming that individual. But the counselling should be done in private, not in public. If something needs to be said in public to check that vice from spreading in society, the wrongdoer should not be named. The reference to the vice should be in general terms. Day in and day out God overlooks people’s crimes. His servants too should follow this divine principle. However, one who has been oppressed or who has suffered a wrong is permitted to tell people about the wrong or oppression he has suffered. Nevertheless, it is better for him to exercise patience and forgive the one who wronged him. In this way the victim shows that he cares for the loss of the Hereafter more than any loss incurred in this world. For the thought of a greater loss renders a small loss insignificant. This is what happens with a true believer who really dreads the onset of Doomsday. (a) The Makkans believed in the prophethood of Abraham. Similarly, the Jews and the Christians believed respectively in the prophethood of Moses and Jesus. But none of them would acknowledge the prophethood of Muhammad. All of them were willing to accept the prophets of the past, but none of them were ready to accept the Prophet of their own times—mindful as they were of the fact that the prophets they believed in had also been faced with the same hostile reactions in their times as were now being faced by the Arab prophet. All such attempts to reject the contemporary prophet amounted to finding a middle course between truth-worship and self-worship, so that entry to Paradise should be secured without any sacrifice of self-interest. The truth of the matter is that the prophethood of the past is an established fact. Whereas, to acknowledge the contemporary prophet one needs to undertake a new intellectual journey. The prophethood of the past after the passage of time becomes so accepted that it becomes a part of one’s thinking process right from the time of one’s birth. But the prophet of the day is a controversial personality. He appears to be an ‘ordinary human being.’ So, to believe in a prophet in the garb of an ordinary human being, it is essential for man to have a complete change of mindset. He has to find God again at the level of awareness. Belief in the prophet of the past entails only a belief in one’s own heritage, following in the footsteps of one’s forefathers. Their faith was not by choice, but by birth. They had not made a conscious discovery of God. So, belief in the prophet of the past is only a continuation of one’s forefather’s ways, while belief in the prophet of one’s own times means a conscious acceptance of faith. What is of importance in the eyes of God is the faith adopted by choice and not by birth.