Volume 8 Surah 9 - Enjoy Islam

Al-Tawbah (The Repentance) | THE BASIS OF INTER-COMMUNAL RELATIONShave the strictest injunction prohibiting their presence in the Haram area. The orderimplies that they must not even come near it, because they are impure while theHaram is a source of purity.The whole commercial season which the people of Makkah await every year, andtheir business which provides livelihood for most people and the two business tripsin summer and winter which are so essential for the continued prosperity of thepeople of Makkah will all be jeopardized as a result of banning the idolaters frompilgrimage and declaring jihād against them all. This may be true, but when it comesto faith, God wants people’s hearts to be totally dedicated to their faith. When theydo this, they will not worry about their livelihood, because God ensures thateveryone gets his or her share in the normal way and through recognized means: “Ifyou fear poverty, then in time God will enrich you with His own bounty, if He so wills.”(Verse 28) When God wills, He may replace certain causes with others, and He mayclose certain doors in order to open others. “Truly, God is All- knowing, Wise.” (Verse28) He manages all matters and conducts all affairs in accordance with Hisknowledge and wisdom.In this sūrah the Qur’ān is addressing the Muslim community as it was composedimmediately after the conquest of Makkah, when standards of faith were not at thesame level. We can see from reading the sūrah carefully that there were gaps in thatcommunity, and we can also see how the Qur’ān has set about filling these gaps andthe great effort made to educate the Muslim community.The method of the Qur’ān was to guide the footsteps of the Muslim community tobring it up to the high summit of total dedication to God and to the divine faith. Faithbecomes the standard by which any relationship or source of pleasure in life isaccepted or rejected. All this was accomplished through educating people in the realdifference between God’s method which makes all people serve God alone and themethods of jāhiliyyah which enable some people to enslave others. The two areessentially different and they cannot be reconciled.Without this proper understanding of the nature of this religion and its method,and also the nature of jāhiliyyah, or the state of ignorance that Islam always comes upagainst, we cannot recognize the true value of Islamic rules and regulations thatgovern dealings and transactions between the Muslim community and othercommunities.78