Volume 8 Surah 9 - Enjoy Islam

Al-Tawbah (The Repentance) | RELATIONS WITH OTHER RELIGIONSMost probably, they have been given such privileges because originally they haddivine Scriptures and a true faith, although they no longer implemented that faith. Itis then possible to deal with them on the basis of that original code they claim tofollow. In this respect, they are different from the idolaters who have no scripturesand no original faith to be taken as a basis. As to the present beliefs and religion ofthe people of earlier revelations, the Qur’ānic statements are very clear and decisivein maintaining that they have nothing to do with the faith revealed by God. They hadindeed abandoned that in order to follow their rabbis, clerics, monks, synods andchurches in what they had devised for them. What God says is the final verdictwhich may not be subject to any argument.The Reality OutlinedWhat does this exposure by God of the beliefs of the people of earlier revelationssignify?The deceptive front they present acts as a check on the advocates of the Islamicmessage in their confrontation with the jāhiliyyah. Hence, it must be removed, so thatthey can no longer present a false image. We must not overlook the importance of theprevailing circumstances of the Muslim community at the time, including the organicstructure of that community and the fact that the Tabūk Expedition took place at atime of economic hardship which was not made any easier by the extreme heat of theArabian summer. Moreover, the Muslims were reluctant to confront the Byzantinesin open warfare, because the Arabs had always held them in awe. They were evenmore uneasy about the general order given to them to fight the people of earlierrevelations, when they were following divine Scriptures revealed by God.The enemies of this faith who are watching carefully the Islamic revivalistmovements of today are fully aware of what may influence human nature, and of thehistory of Islam as well. Therefore, they are keen to give an outward `Islamic’appearance to the regimes, movements, values, traditions and philosophies theynurture and support in order to crush the Islamic revivalist movements the worldover. They do so, because this outward `Islamic’ appearance may prevent the trueadvocates of Islam from confronting the jāhiliyyah reality that lies behind this falseappearance.They were forced, in certain instances, to reveal the reality of such regimes andmovements and their hostility to Islam. The clearest example of these was in the caseof Ataturk and his movement in Turkey which was uncompromising in its enmity toeverything Islamic. They needed to reveal its reality because of the urgency they feltto bury the Caliphate system which was the last aspect of Muslim unity. Although itwas merely a formal aspect, they needed to do away with it before they could attack118