The Cattle (Al-An‘am) الأنعام 105–108
105
وَكَذَلِكَ نُصَرِّفُ الآيَاتِ وَلِيَقُولُواْ دَرَسْتَ وَلِنُبَيِّنَهُ لِقَوْمٍ يَعْلَمُونَ
This is how We explain Our revelations in various ways—so that they might come to the point of saying, ‘You have read this out to us,’ and that We might make it clear [that this is the truth] to those who are eager to know.
106
اتَّبِعْ مَا أُوحِيَ إِلَيْكَ مِن رَّبِّكَ لا إِلَـهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ وَأَعْرِضْ عَنِ الْمُشْرِكِينَ
Follow what has been revealed to you from your Lord: there is no deity but Him; and ignore the polytheists.
107
وَلَوْ شَاء اللّهُ مَا أَشْرَكُواْ وَمَا جَعَلْنَاكَ عَلَيْهِمْ حَفِيظًا وَمَا أَنتَ عَلَيْهِم بِوَكِيلٍ
If God had willed, they would not have associated anything with Him. We did not appoint you over them as their keeper, nor are you their guardian.
108
وَلاَ تَسُبُّواْ الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ اللّهِ فَيَسُبُّواْ اللّهَ عَدْوًا بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ كَذَلِكَ زَيَّنَّا لِكُلِّ أُمَّةٍ عَمَلَهُمْ ثُمَّ إِلَى رَبِّهِم مَّرْجِعُهُمْ فَيُنَبِّئُهُم بِمَا كَانُواْ يَعْمَلُونَ
Do not revile those [beings] whom they invoke instead of God, lest they, in their hostility, revile God out of ignorance. Thus to every people We have caused their actions to seem fair. To their Lord they shall all return, and He will declare to them all that they have done.
No class discussions published for this verse group yet.
(a) There are some who have the urge to acquire knowledge and learn; who are in search of Truth. There are others who have acquired wealth and power and consider themselves successful to the point of feeling that there is nothing lacking in them which needs to be compensated for. When the call of Truth is given, it is mostly the former kind of people who accept it, unlike the latter who do not attach any significance to it. They never give it any serious thought, and therefore its importance does not become clear to them. The call of Truth provides answers for those who earnestly go in quest of the truth, and gives those who are not so inclined, a logical conclusion to their arguments. With regard to the former, the aim is to enable them to accept the truth; as for the others, it is meant to make them concede that at least the divine message had been conveyed to them in full. ( a) Those who reject the divine message invent different excuses to justify their doing so. In these circumstances, it may occur to the preacher that he should change the way he conveys his message, so that it becomes acceptable to the addressees. But this would not be proper. He should adhere to the style which has been directly taught to him by God, because the real purpose of his activity is to link man with God and not to win people over and draw them into his sphere by hook or by crook. On the other hand, neither is it proper to respond to the addressee’s obduracy with abusive outbursts. The individual develops a bias in favour of the particular traditions to which he is born, or the kind of thinking with which he has become familiar. According to this, he develops a particular frame of mind which affects all his thinking process. This frame of mind presents the greatest impediment to the acceptance of Truth. Unless it can be altered, that door of his mind, through which the voice of Truth might enter, will never open.