Volume 8 Surah 9 - Enjoy Islam

Al-Tawbah (The Repentance) | RELATIONS WITH OTHER RELIGIONSbreaking the water’s surface, but they would not come near them on other than Sabbath days.Thus did We try them because of their disobedience.” (7: 161-163) “Then your Lord declaredthat He would most certainly raise against them people who would cruelly oppress them tillthe Day of Resurrection. Your Lord is swift indeed in His retribution, yet He is certainlyMuch forgiving, Merciful.” (7: 167) “They were succeeded by generations who inherited theBook. Yet these are keen to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of this lower world and say, ‘We shallbe forgiven.’ Should some similar pleasures come their way, they would certainly be keen toindulge them. Have they not solemnly pledged through their Scriptures to say nothing but thetruth about God? And have they not studied well what is in [the Scriptures]? Surely the lifein the hereafter is better for all who are God-fearing. Will you not use your reason?” (7: 169)The Qur’ānic sūrahs revealed in Madinah provide the final word about the peopleof earlier revelations and their attitudes. The Qur’ān describes in detail the wickedtactics and the spiteful methods they employ in their campaign against Islam.Examples of these are found in long passages of Sūrahs 2-5 and elsewhere in theQur’ān. In this sūrah the final verdict on them is given. Here are only a few examplesof what the Qur’ān says about them:Do you hope that they will accept your message when some of them would listen to theword of God then, having understood it, knowingly distort it? When they meet thebelievers, they say, ‘We believe,’ but when they find themselves alone, they say to oneanother, Need you inform them that which God has disclosed to you? They will onlyuse it in argument against you before your Lord? Will you not use your reason?’ Dothey not know that God is well aware of all that they conceal and all that they reveal?There are among them illiterate people who have no real knowledge of the Scriptures,entertaining only wishful beliefs and conjecture. Woe, then, to those who write down,with their own hands, [something which they claim to be of] the Scriptures, and thensay, ‘This is from God’, in order to get for it a trifling price. Woe to them for whattheir hands have written and woe to them for what they earn. (2: 75-79)We gave Moses the Book and caused a succession of messengers to follow him. ToJesus, son of Mary, We gave clear proofs and supported him with the Holy Spirit.Why is it that every time a messenger comes to you with a message that does not suityour fancies, you glory in your arrogance, charging some (messengers) with lying andslaying others? They say, ‘Our hearts are sealed. ‘No! God has cursed them for theirdisbelief. They have but little faith. And now that a Book confirming their own hascome to them from God, and they had repeatedly forecast its coming to the unbelievers,they have denied what they know to be the truth. God’s curse be upon the unbelievers!Vile is that for which they have bartered their souls, because they have denied whatGod has revealed, grudging that He should, by His grace, send down His revelationsto whom He chooses from among His servants. Thus they have incurred God’s wrathover and over again. Ignominious suffering is in store for the unbelievers. When it is85