Surah 1-2 - YasSarNal QuR'aN

Al-Baqarah (The Cow) | SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHTclouds that run their courses between sky and earth: in all this there are signs forpeople who use their reason. Yet there are people who worship beings other than God,giving them a status equal to His, loving them as God alone should be loved; whereasthe believers love God more than all else. If the unbelievers could but see, as see theywill when they are made to suffer, that all might belongs to God alone, and that He isstern in retribution. [On that day] those who were followed will disown their followersand they all shall see their punishment, while all their ties are severed. The followerswill say, ‘Would that we had another chance so that we can disown them as they havedisowned us!” Thus will God show them their works [in a way which causes them]bitter regrets. They shall never come out of the fire. (Verses 163-167)The oneness of God is the quintessence of faith. On the whole, the debate hasnever been about God’s existence, however differently his entity, attributes or role inthe universe might be viewed or defined by different societies and religions. Man’snature has always led him to the belief in God. But in recent human history, a newphilosophy has emerged, never known in human thinking before, which totallydenies the very notion of God. This intellectual monstrosity has very little chance ofbecoming universal, because it is self-defeating and is invalidated by the very natureand structure of the universe and our own existence in it.The passage, therefore, affirms the principle of God’s oneness as an essential partof true faith and a solid foundation for man’s moral and social systems. The one Godis the only deity to be adored and worshipped, and He is also the sole source ofman’s moral codes and norms, and the origin of all the laws and regulations thatgovern and control man’s social, political and economic life and the life of the wholecosmos: “Your God is the One God: there is no deity but He, the Compassionate, theMerciful.” (Verse 163) We cannot fail to note how the truth of God’s oneness isemphatically stressed here in several ways. Thus, the Lord worshipped and obeyedby all creatures is the only God who legislates for all people making clear for themwhat moral values to uphold. It is from Him that they receive all their legislation.This central concept of Islam is re-emphasized time after time in the Qur’ān,particularly in the parts revealed in Makkah. It is brought up here in the context ofpreparing the Muslim community for its crucial universal leadership role. TheQur’ān hammers home these concepts so as to leave people in no doubt that theprinciple of God’s oneness permeates all aspects of life and all parts of existence.God’s sovereignty over this world and His active control of its affairs stem fromHis grace attributes. He is “the Merciful, the Compassionate.”Those Using Their ReasonIn the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alternation of night and day; in the178