Volume 10 Surah 12 - 15 - Enjoy Islam

Ibrahīm (Abraham) | ONE MESSAGE FOR ALL MANKIND
By its very nature, a society based on jāhiliyyah does not allow anyone who
submits to God to work from within its boundaries, unless the work of that believer
and his efforts and potentials will support that society and contribute to its power.
Those who imagine themselves able to serve their faith by penetrating un-Islamic
society and working within its system do not actually understand the nature of the
organic structure of that society. It is a society that forces everyone to work for its
beliefs and concepts. Hence, the noble messengers’ refusal to revert to their people’s
old ways, after they had been saved from them by God.
At this point the Supreme Power levels its blow to which no resistance can be
made by weak human beings, even though they may be ruthless despots: “Their Lord
revealed this to His messengers: Most certainly shall We destroy the wrongdoers, and most
certainly shall We cause you to dwell in the land long after they are gone. This [I promise] to
all who stand in awe of My presence, and stand in awe of My warnings.’“ (Verses 13-14)
Prayers for God’s Support
We must realize here that the Supreme Power does not intervene to settle the issue
between the messengers and their communities until the messengers themselves
declare their final split with their people. The believers must make it clear that they
will never return to their people’s old ways after God has saved them. They must
also insist on having their own separate identity, society and leadership. This means
that the community is split into two which differ in faith, lifestyle, leadership and
structure. This is when God intervenes to destroy the despots who persecute the
believers. This is when God fulfils His promise to His messengers to grant them
victory and establish the believers on earth. Such intervention will never happen
while the believers are integrated in un-Islamic society, working from within its
institutions. They must first have their own identity and their own separate structure
and leadership.
“Their Lord revealed this to His messengers: Most certainly shall We destroy the
wrongdoers.” (Verse 13) Here we have an emphatic statement. Furthermore, it adds
power through its use of inversion and the plural pronoun in reference to God. It
asserts a promise to destroy the tyrants who threaten the believers and, by their
threats, do wrong to themselves, the truth, God’s messengers and all people. “And
most certainly shall We cause you to dwell in the land long after they are gone.” (Verse 14)
This is not an act of favouritism, but the work of a fair law of nature that God has set
in operation.
“This [I promise] to all who stand in awe of My presence, and stand in awe of My
warnings.” (Verse 14) This settlement in the land after the tyrants have gone is
promised to those who fear God and do not act with arrogance or overbearing pride.
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