Volume 8 Surah 9 - Enjoy Islam

Al-Tawbah (The Repentance) | THE BASIS OF INTER-COMMUNAL RELATIONSrelations between Islamic society which attributes Godhead, Lordship, sovereigntyand the authority to legislate to God alone, and ignorant or, to use the Islamic term,jāhiliyyah societies which assign all this to some beings other than God, or claim thatGod has partners sharing with Him all these attributes. This law is essentially one ofconflict, which is expressed in God’s statements in the Qur’ān: “Were it not that Godrepels some people by means of others, monasteries, churches, synagogues and mosques — inall of which God’s name is abundantly extolled — would have been destroyed.” (22: 40) “Hadit not been for the fact that God repels one group of people by another, the earth would havebeen utterly corrupted’’ (2: 251)The practical results of this essential law were manifested in two practicalphenomena. The first was that Islam moved from one step, expedition and stage tothe next following the divine approach and conveying God’s message to one areaand tribe after another. This was a necessary step towards conveying the message toall mankind and removing all material obstacles that prevented the divine messagefrom reaching all people. This continued to be the case until Makkah fell to Islam andthe Quraysh tribe, the major obstacle in the face of the Islamic march, wasvanquished. The large tribes of Hawāzin and Thaqīf, which were akin to the Qurayshin strength, also surrendered to the Muslim state. Islam had then enough power tostrike fear in the hearts of its enemies. It was thus able to take the final and decisivestep in the Arabian Peninsula, in preparation for taking the same step across the restof the world, as and when circumstances allowed. The ultimate aim being that thereshould be no strife on earth and all submission be made to God alone.The other phenomenon was the violation of treaties and covenants which weremade with the Muslims in different circumstances, whenever a chance presenteditself to violate such treaties with impunity. At the first suggestion that the Muslimswere going through some difficulty which made the idolaters, and even the people ofearlier revelations, feel they could safely violate their treaties, such violations werecertain to come. The treaties were not made in the first place as a result of any keendesire to live in peace with the Muslims. The enemies of Islam were compelled, byforce of circumstance, to go into such treaties to serve their own interests. Jāhiliyyah,which is the name Islam gives to any society that rejects God’s law, does not like tosee Islam establishing its solid presence when it contradicts the very basis of itsexistence and every detail of the programmes of such societies. Jāhiliyyah knows thatby virtue of the active nature of Islam, and its instinctive desire to stamp out tyrannyfrom human life, it will work hard to bring people back to the worship of God alone.It is to emphasize this last phenomenon that God says with reference to theunbelievers: “They shall not cease to fight you until they force you to renounce your faith, ifthey can.” (2: 217) He also says about the people of earlier revelations: “Many amongthe people of earlier revelations would love to lead you back to unbelief now that you have41