The Family of ‘Imran (Al-‘Imran)
Verses 18-22 GROUP_82 3.18-22
18
شَهِدَ اللّهُ أَنَّهُ لاَ إِلَـهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ وَالْمَلاَئِكَةُ وَأُوْلُواْ الْعِلْمِ قَآئِمَاً بِالْقِسْطِ لاَ إِلَـهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ
God bears witness that there is no deity save Him, as do the angels and those who possess knowledge. He is the upholder of justice. There is no diety save Him, the Mighty, the Wise One.
19
إِنَّ الدِّينَ عِندَ اللّهِ الإِسْلاَمُ وَمَا اخْتَلَفَ الَّذِينَ أُوْتُواْ الْكِتَابَ إِلاَّ مِن بَعْدِ مَا جَاءهُمُ الْعِلْمُ بَغْيًا بَيْنَهُمْ وَمَن يَكْفُرْ بِآيَاتِ اللّهِ فَإِنَّ اللّهِ سَرِيعُ الْحِسَابِ
The only true religion in God’s sight is complete submission to God. And those who were given the Book disagreed only out of rivalry, after knowledge had been given to them—he who denies God’s signs should know that God is swift in His reckoning.
20
فَإنْ حَآجُّوكَ فَقُلْ أَسْلَمْتُ وَجْهِيَ لِلّهِ وَمَنِ اتَّبَعَنِ وَقُل لِّلَّذِينَ أُوْتُواْ الْكِتَابَ وَالأُمِّيِّينَ أَأَسْلَمْتُمْ فَإِنْ أَسْلَمُواْ فَقَدِ اهْتَدَواْ وَّإِن تَوَلَّوْاْ فَإِنَّمَا عَلَيْكَ الْبَلاَغُ وَاللّهُ بَصِيرٌ بِالْعِبَادِ
If they dispute with you, say, ‘I have submitted my whole being to God and so have those who follow me.’ And ask those who have been given the Book, as well as the unlettered, ‘Do you submit yourselves to God in the same way?’ If they submit themselves to Him, they are on the right path; but if they turn away, your duty is only to convey the message. God is observant of all His servants.
21
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَكْفُرُونَ بِآيَاتِ اللّهِ وَيَقْتُلُونَ النَّبِيِّينَ بِغَيْرِ حَقٍّ وَيَقْتُلُونَ الِّذِينَ يَأْمُرُونَ بِالْقِسْطِ مِنَ النَّاسِ فَبَشِّرْهُم بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ
Those who deny God’s signs and kill the prophets unjustly and kill those who enjoin justice—give them warning of a woeful punishment—
22
أُولَـئِكَ الَّذِينَ حَبِطَتْ أَعْمَالُهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالآخِرَةِ وَمَا لَهُم مِّن نَّاصِرِينَ
their deeds will come to nothing in this world as well as in the hereafter; they will have no supporters.
No class discussions published for this verse group yet.
Commentary
(a) The God of the universe is the One and only God and He likes justice. This assertion is made in all the revealed scriptures which are still in their original form. The vast universe run by its Master through His unseen agents, the angels, is exactly what it ought to be and as perfect as it can be. According to established knowledge, the universe seems to be a completely unitary system. This would indicate that it has a single Planner. Moreover, everything in the universe being in its right place is a proof that its Lord loves justice and righteousness rather than injustice and wrongdoing. Then how can God, who has maintained justice in the vaster universe, allow injustice in human matters? Each and every part of the universe is in a complete state of ‘surrender’, that is, all its functions are performed in accordance with the appointed plan of God. Exactly the same performance is required of man. Man must recognize his Lord and mould his life in accordance with God’s plan. Making anyone else, save God, the centre of his attention or nurturing the thought that God’s judgement can be based on anything other than justice is inconceivable in the present universe. (a) The call of the Quran is the call of the same true version of Islam, the religion of submission to God, as was revealed to all the other prophets. Those who deny this do so, not because its truth is not clear to them, but because of their own sense of superiority. Acknowledging its veracity amounts, as they see it, to accepting the intellectual superiority of the proponent of the Quran. And their jealousy and arrogance do not allow of such an acknowledgement. Instead of accepting the truth, they want to exterminate the dayee himself. However, this is not possible in this world of God. All their plans to censor the dayees’ words will fail, and when God’s scales of justice are put in place, they will see that those actions, which had given them the conviction of securing success and salvation, are quite without value. True argument is one of God’s signs. One who does not bow to a true argument, fails to bow to God. Such dissenters will enter the next world divested of all support.