Al-Bayan, Discourses on the Qur'an Javed Ahmad Ghamidi
Surah Aal i Imran Aayaat 100 to 104.
Gratitude is only for God, the Lord of the World,
and may His peace and mercy be on Muhammad, the trustworthy.
I seek refuge with God from the accursed Devil.
In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Ever Merciful.
Ladies and Gentlemen, We are beginning
the study of Surah Aal I Imran from verse 100 in the Quran.
Earlier, the first section of the chapter concluded on verse 99
This Surah comprises of two sections, one introduction and one conclusion.
This is the structure of its subject matter.
There is an introduction.
Then begins a section on the completion of proof on the People of the Book
and it reaches a conclusion on verse 99.
Now begins the second section which would finally lead
to the conclusion of the chapter.
This verse onwards the address is directed towards the Muslims.
The direction of the address has changed.
In these verses of the Quran, this method is generally adopted.
Either the address is directed towards the Muslims,
as in Surah Nisa and then the People of the Book are discussed.
After the introduction of the chapter, the chapter will either begin
by addressing the People of the Book and then Muslims will be addressed.
If you look here, the conclusive proof of Allah was demonstrated
to the People of the Book.
All evidences were supplied and as we saw in the last lecture,
at the end of that topic, the Quran provided answers to the
three main objections raised by the people of the book.
After providing answers to their objections
they were sternly reprimanded and then they were also invited to Islam
and they were asked to not reject the Quranic verses
and not to stop people from Allah's path
and not to sully those things that they have been made witness to
because this is not the correct attitude.
Now the address is directed towards the Muslims,
Muslims are first warned of the deviant schemes of the People of the Book
which they would employ to turn away the Muslims from the path of the truth
But they should stay steadfast on the path of Allah.
After this, the stages of purification and cleanliness of the Muslims will begin
In other words, Muslims should reform themselves,
they should fulfil their obligation towards islam,
they should hold on to the rope of Allah steadfastly,
they should follow the way of Allah and the Prophet (pbuh) in difficult times.
So, these things which are important for their purification, cleansing
the purification of their wisdom and character will be discussed.
So, this is the order of this Surah.
Allah says, "Yaaa ayyuhal lazeena aamanoo in tutee'oo fareeqam
minal lazeena ootul Kitaaba"
Believers! If you yield to a group from among these People of the Book,
It is obvious that from all the things that have been said,
one of these includes telling the people of the book
about things they have been doing wrong.
On the other hand, since they are religious people
and they are at the forefront of religious issues,
people look up to them with respect to these issues,
in a way, they have the status of religious leaders,
the common people of Arabia, those from the tribes of Aws and Khazraj
and people from other tribes think that these people have the best understanding
of issues relating to Prophethood for they have a whole history of Prophets.
We can make a mistake but
these people would not easily fall into mistakes in this regard.
So, these people would be influenced by them to an extent as well.
That is why this issue was introduced by stating that:
Believers! If you yield to a group from among these People of the Book,
By 'a group', Quran refers to those people who are stubborn
and these people usually include their religious leaders,
something which the Quran tells us.
They are the leaders and hence trusted by the common populace.
It is mostly those people.
By 'a group', Quran refers to those people only.
And by 'a group', Quran also refers to those people
who are not part of this group.
It Is not as though every one from among the people of the Book
has become an ingrate.
A group from among them which also plays the leadership role
indulges in such activities.
If you yield to this group from among the People of the Book,
then what will these people do?
yaruddookum ba'da eemaanikum kaafireen
Yaaa ayyuhal lazeena aamanoo in tutee'oo fareeqam
minal lazeena ootul Kitaaba
Believers! If you yield to a group from among these People of the Book,
they will turn you back from belief to disbelief.
Their real intention is that you yield to these people
so that they will also lead the Muslims into disbelief like themselves.
I have already mentioned that the justice loving people from among them,
those people that the Quran will praise later on,
the Quran always mentions them by setting them apart from these people.
The Quran tells us that there are such people who talk of justice,
and don't act stubbornly at all.
Although it can be the case that
their minds may still lack clarity,
but they ask questions and they engage and then again
there are people who have a clarity in their thoughts
but there still persists a dissonance in their actions.
In other words, he pauses regularly wondering
if his decision was right of not.
Even those people that have such ambiguities are different.
But these people are the ones who are in such a place
because of their stubbornness that if you listen to them,
then you should know their objective.
It is that they will also lead you into disbelief
just as they disbelieve out of their sheer stubbornness.
And you think that since they are believers
and hence they cannot lead you into disbelief...
It is obvious that if religious leaders and believers are like that
then people feel that the leaders have no reason to lead them away.
The Quran stated that their religion is merely ritualistic
and they are the primary enemies of religion.
They not only themselves are its disbelievers, but they will also
lead the Muslims into disbelief if they are led away by them.
The Quran stated that their actions would lead to such consequences.
Wa kaifa takfuroona wa antum tutlaa 'alaikum Aayaatul laahi
O Muslims [Be forewarned of this]. In other words, [Be forewarned of them]
Be forewarned of what you have been told.
[just reflect] how can you disbelieve when God’s verses are being recited to you
It is understandable that they want to lead you away
but how can you disbelieve when God’s Book has been revealed to you
and His own Messenger is among you, when God’s verses are being recited to you
when the truth is being manifested before you
wa antum tutlaa 'alaikum Aayaatul laahi
when God’s verses are being recited to you
wa feekum Rasooluhu; and His own Messenger is among you.
If in spite of this they disregard the truth
then there is no bigger deprivation and misfortune than that.
They will now have no excuse to present before the Almighty
which in other words would mean that they have slipped in broad daylight.
The result would be that even though everything was visible even then
they surrendered themselves to the dark.
wa feekum Rasooluh; wa mai ya'tasim
billaahi faqad hudiya ilaa Siraatim Mustaqeem
[So hold fast to God]
"To hold fast to God” means that
in good and bad circumstances a person adheres to the truth
and does not swerve in any way from the directives of God
and the teachings of His Book.
[So hold fast to God] and [remember that] he who holds fast to God
[then know that] the one who holds fast to Allah shall be guided to the straight path
So, he who holds fast to God shall never be misguided
If you hold fast to your own ego then you will face the same misfortune
that these people have faced.
Yaaa ayyuhal lazeena aamanut taqul laaha haqqa tuqaatihee
Believers! Fear God as you should by [His] right.
This is an explanation of what holding fast to God actually means:
When it was instructed to hold fast to God
and when it was said that
he shall be guided to the straight path
who holds fast to God and shall never be misguided.
So, what does holding fast to God actually mean?
The Quran makes clear its meaning in the next verse:
to fear God the way a person rightly should.
The word 'fear' that is usually used...
Here, the Quran uses the word 'Taqwa' or God-consciousness.
In other words, they should be vary of the limits.
They should be wakeful with respect to Allah.
So, generally people feel that it is a way of intimidation.
Fear is both rational as well as superstitious.
The fear of ghosts, for example, is a fear that stems from superstition.
You come across such a situation when you, for instance,
visit some house.
It is a fear that stems from delusions.
Fear is also rational.
It is a rational fear when you know that the bridge in front of you
is broken and there are chances that you will fall off the bridge.
One has to be cautious about it ...
In other words, a child is quite courageous.
He can catch hold of a snake.
But why?
Because, rationally speaking, he does not understand the concept of a snakebite.
By 'fear of God', it does not mean that you are frightened by a ghost.
It entails that you should be conscious of the fact that one day
you will stand before Allah.
He is your almighty. You have to face him.
If you go before him as a dishonest, fraudulent person,
if you are guided by stubbornness and hauteur
do you know the consequence of such an action?
Every reasonable person should be apprehensive of it.
Our discourse is based on the same principle in this world as well.
This is what the Quran is trying to explain.
So, this is being stated.
The word 'righteousness' that has been used,
it is obvious that the Quran has said:
ittaqul laaha haqqa tuqaatihee
Believers! Fear God as you rightly should.
But Fearing God is required to the extent that a person is capable of.
The Qur’ān itself has explained this in Surah Taghabun.
Fataqul la masta ttaatu
You should fear God as much as you are capable of.
In other words, such an attitude is not detrimental for the individual.
If he is fearful and apprehensive, if he is conscious of the transgressions
and if he bound by the limits set by God,
he will do it to the extent that a person is capable of.
God doesn't ask you to shoulder more responsibility
than you are capable of shouldering.
But he will fear God by accepting the truth of fearing God.
In other words, he will fear God with the consciousness that
he is dealing with God himself.
Firstly, the obligations a person owes to God
are ones which he owes to no other person.
Secondly, the limits and bounds set by God
and the punishments for violating them
have been prescribed for the worldly and next-worldly benefit of people;
God does not stand to gain from obeying these limits; it is they who stand to gain
Even when we apply the system of recompense and Punishment
we do it for the reformation of the community and the people,
we do it for their welfare.
In other words, the system of recompense and Punishment
and the judicial system does not stand to benefit from it.
It is meant for human beings only.
And if they transgress the set limits then everyone feels
that they should be criticised.
So, the law of recompense and Punishment
that has been legislated by Allah
is meant for the benefit of human beings only.
Thirdly, God is watching over everything; so much so,
He even knows what is in the hearts of people.
Fourthly, no one can save a person from God’s punishment
and the Almighty can punish a person both in this world
and in the Hereafter and this punishment can be eternal.
So, these are the things which when an individual takes into consideration
while fearing God, it is only then that he fears God as he rightly should.
Unless a person keeps an eye on all these aspects of fearing God,
he cannot grasp the real meaning of fearing God.
There are lot of things for which man fears man,
but it is the fear of God, his virtue that is stated here.
itaqul laaha haqqa tuqaatihee
Believers! Fear God as you rightly should.
wa laa tamootunna illaa wa antum muslimoon
and when you leave this world, then leave it only as followers of Islam
In other words, when the time comes to leave this world
then you should be a follower of Islam until that time.
Wa'tasimoo bi Hablil laahi jamee'anw
and together cling to the rope of God.
wa laa tafarraqoo and let nothing divide you
These are the things that have been stated.
and we should take note of each of the aforementioned aspects.
wa laa tamootunna illaa wa antum muslimoon
It means that the instruction to fear Allah
or when you are instructed to be obedient towards Allah,
it is a commitment for a lifetime.
There is no scope for leave in it.
Once you have become mature,
once God-consciousness has become a part of your thought process,
once it has become part of your intellect, and inner life,
then this struggle will go on until your last breath.
Therefore, you should be mindful.
If you leave this struggle before your death,
then your hardwork will go to waste.
So, when the Quran stated that: wa laa tamootunna illaa wa antum muslimoon
it entails that this matter is not meant for a day or two,
instead the duration that Allah has decided for this test,
the entire duration must be spent in this very piety, by fearing Allah.
It also makes clear that it is an uneven path,
we will face ups and downs, we will face difficulties,
we will face discord, we will face Satans who will ambush us at night
and come across many hitches and obstacles from enemies.
At times, greed will try to lure us and, at others,
fear will try to intimidate us.
Those who passed through all these phases while protecting their faith
and reached their destination that Allah has ordained for the believers.
And what is the nature of that destination?
It is that man should continue to live under the principles and
instructions of Islam, He should be God-fearing till the end of his life.
At that point when they give up their soul to the Supreme Being,
as the Quran rightly depicts that they will say that,
Oh God! we have come to you,
And in turn God will instruct them to enter paradise,
Raaziyatum marziyah
Man is pleased with God, and God is pleased with Man.
This is what the Quran has termed as Ahtisam Billah
cling to the rope of God steadfastly, mentioned the Quran and
then elaborated it at length.
What is the rope of Allah?
It is the Quran. This refers to the Qur’ān because this is the rope which is
stretched from the heavens to the earth between God and His servants.
It is this rope which is the means to reach God
and it is also our covenant with Him.
Consequently, holding firmly the rope of God means nothing but
to firmly grasp the Book of God and in no situation leave it.
Holding steadfast is qualified by the word la tafariqu
and then the Quran has used the words verse
the Quran has instructed us against any sort of dissension.
What does it mean?
This means that this requirement is from Muslims in their collective and
individual capacity to cling firmly to the rope of Allah.
They should not become divided by forsaking it.
While being united they should adhere to the Qur’ān,
read it and reflect on its verses.
They should gather counsel from it, turn to it in all their affairs
considering it to be a scale of justice
and before its verdicts give no importance to any other yardstick whatsoever.
This is what the words 'etisaam bi hablillah' mean.
You should firmly grasp this rope of Allah as the Quran said:
Wa'tasimoo bi Hablil laahi jamee'anw
Take it that as it was said earlier that you should hold on to Allah firmly,
and a person holds on to Allah by fearing him and by fully obeying God
and once you have the fear of God,
then you are inclined towards the book of Allah
so that I do not transgress the limits set by Allah.
And how to cling to the rope of Allah is further emphasized
and portrayed in the reality of the Quran that,
If you really want to abstain from any sort of discord then this thing
must be taken in consideration.
You must cling to the book of God.
wazkuroo ni'mat allaahi alaikum
And the Quran said:
and remember the favour God has bestowed upon you:
What favours?
iz kuntum a'daaa'an
Here, the companions are the addressee, that when you were enemies of one another
fa allafa baina quloobikum so He united your hearts
fa asbah tum bini'matiheee ikhwaananw
and with His grace, Allah's grace, you became brothers.
And remember, the Quran said:
wa kuntum 'alaa shafaa hufratim minan Naari
and [remember] when you stood at the very brink of an abyss of fire;
fa anqazakum minhaa; then He saved you from it
The companions, who were party to the Prophet (pbuh) are told
about the grace that Allah has bestowed upon them.
Anyone who is aware of the history of Pre-islamic Arabia knows that
Before the revelation of this Book, every tribe was an enemy of the other
and they would be engaged in fighting and warfare.
The stories of their warfare
are spread across their literature and poetry.
There was no unifying thread between them on the basis of religion also.
They were, each one of the them, the progeny of Abraham,
but only in name.
Each tribe had its own deity.
Their interests clashed with one another
in the fields of politics and economics as well.
With the coming of the Quran,
it knitted them together and weaved them into a locket of pearls
and those erstwhile foes became friends, well-wishers, and brothers.
Here, they are reminded of the blessings bestowed upon the arrival
of the Prophet (pbuh) and the Quran.
They were told that:
they stood at the very brink of an abyss of fire;
Warfare, hatred for each other, Shirk, and consequently, internal grudges
which were founded on disbelief, and colliding with each others profits
had dragged you to a place where you stood at the very
brink of that abyss of fire.
And the nature of that fire is such that
it is quite extraordinary for nations in this world as well as in the next world
where it won't spare anyone indulging in idolatry,
injustice, oppression and transgressions against others.
So, the Quran said:
then the Prophet (pbuh) and the Quran saved you from it.
kazaalika yubaiyinul laahu lakum aayaatihee
Thus God explains to you His revelations
la'allakum tahtadoon so that you may be guided.
Through these verses we come to know that
one really important blessing from among God's blessings
bestowed upon a nation or a group or a collective is that
a bond of love comes into being between them
The truth is that it doesn't happen easily.
Hence, look at the words that the Quran uses:
iz kuntum a'daaa'an fa allafa baina quloobikum
Allah put love between you people when you were foes.
This is a great blessing by Allah.
Otherwise, minor issues result in the disintegration of nations.
The ego of human beings is such and it breeds suspicions so easily
and they are so prone to looking after their own profits,
that it is even difficult for even four people to work together.
At every step we are anxious that they might fall in a ditch.
And internal conflicts, the sort that we see amongst Muslims...
People are slaves to profits.
If two people work together, then we do not expect them
to live their lives together and put faith in each other.
Mistrust is in the family and outside, it is in the society,
in the cultural and the political world.
In other words, they have engulfed the entire community.
If you look at the environment in your social milieu,
you will find out that moral degradation is exemplified
in national divisiveness.
The entire community will become discordant and perturbed
because from a moral point of view,
people are not able to trust each other.
This environment of mistrust creates a crisis of trust.
And then it is very difficult to come out of it.
Hence, Allah has especially brought it to the attention of the Companions that:
my greatest blessing towards you was to turn your enmity into love
You became brothers because of My blessings.
And the situation of your nation was such that
it would have resulted in a pit of fire in this world as well as the next
and Allah pulled you out of it.
Then the Quran stated that: this is the manner in which
Allah explains his verses.
And this is how Allah explains to you that
a slight mistake in this matter can result in grave trials.
if they want to sustain love and unity among them
In other words, Allah has united you and if you want to sustain it
they must hold fast to this Book otherwise
they will revert to the age of ignorance that they used to be in.
It was undeniable that they were standing at the brink of an abyss of fire
If you read their history, it becomes absolutely clear.
the Almighty caught them by their hands and saved them from it.
So now if they forsake this Book,
there is a strong chance that they will fall in this abyss
and then will not be able to save themselves from its flames.
This directive that was applicable to the muslim collectivity at that point of time
it is applicable in the same manner even today.
The discord and disagreement, the ugliness
which has become part of our culture, politics, economics,
one of the major reasons behind that is that
Muslims have abandoned the book of Allah.
The instructions and guidance that was there in the Quran,
the manner in which our moral being was made the real objective of our lives,
this is the most foundational and axial point of the Quran
that you have to purify your moral being,
you have to be of service to others, your wealth is not your own,
others have a right to it as well.
You have to spend in the way of your lord and it is obvious that when
someone is willing to spend their wealth
then how is it possible that he commits injustice and transgressions
and how is it possible for him to steal from others?
This is something which purifies human beings from a moral point of view.
This was the real message of the Quran.
Even today if you read the Quran,
you will find that the Quran does not consist of things like
which are very common in our culture such as:
stories of the Prophet being Nur or Bashar.
He invites human beings to the simple message that
they should try to verify the true essence of virtue.
That is the real faith in God.
It is a feeling of being present before Him.
You should live with the sentiment that you will be accountable to god.
and the basis for this accountability is the purification of your moral being.
Moral being should be as pure as possible.
The Quran calls it amale saaleh
You should act in such a way that
it guides you, your society, your environment to the straight path,
When things become part of a jargon then people stop focusing on its meaning.
It is a very beautiful expression.
In other words, there are certain actions which when commited
result in internal friction within yourself.
These actions stem discord at your home, in your community,
And then there is a sort of action which leads to goodness and success everywhere.
What is that action?
It is obvious that it is the same action where an individual has a knowledge
of his moral being and acquires it.
He should recognise himself and the essence of his dignity.
I am a moral being and I will take moral purification to that level
where it is supposed to be and then I will achieve eminence.
If I fail to do that then there is no difference between myself and an animal.
So, this is the teaching of the Quran.
If you hold steadfast to the directives of the Qur’ān
and if you make it the center and axis of all things
which I always translate as the following:
The main reason for the decline of the Muslim community is that
it neither made Quran the center and axis of its knowledge
nor did it make the Quran the center and axis of its actions.
In terms of knowledge, if you visit the religious schools,
if you look at religious education, philosophy or debates in jurisprudence
making Quran the axis of your religion and then trying to comprehend the Quran
as the Quran wants us to do has escaped our knowledge.
Due to this reason we are left with the stories of virtuous men, fables
the debates on furu'aat, and those things that have no relevance to our lives
The most important reality of our life is that which the Quran states as
the act of leading one's life with the sentiment of accountability before god
One day I will have to stand in the court of my lord
and I cannot take any chances.
I cannot deceive anyone, I cannot do adulteration,
I cannot be dishonest, I cannot be unjust towards others.
You will feel this sentiment only when
you will lead your life with the consciousness that
you are accountable to your lord.
And then there is the issue of making aspects of religion such as:
rituals, the organisation of the society, and reminder of things that are symbolic,
aspects that are, in fact, supplementary, but replace the real essence of religion.
The is the aspect that the Quran is explaining here.
Even today, if Quran becomes a central and axial part of our lives
then what will be the consequences?
It will result in you acquiring such a scale in religious matters
that you will be able to examine everything.
If you overcome your prejudices, then you will be able to decide
between good and bad in a jiffy. You will find a way out of
those metaphysical debates that people found very interesting
in our tradition and such exceptional people surrendered themselves
to these debates. Then your entire focus...
It is obvious that when it becomes clear what God is,
what his knowledge is like, his attributes and the correct method
to be accountable in the court of Allah. When these issues become clear
then you abandon the debates of philosophy and Kalam
and stand on the correct path, then only your entire focus will be on
natural sciences and development of your own life.
It will result in you focusing on scientific disciplines
and you will abandon superstitions. Quran germinates both these things
within you when you focus on the Quran. Here it is stated that:
hold steadfast to this rope of Allah, if you hold firmly the rope of Allah,
then it will have certain consequences and those consequences are the following:
kazaalika yubaiyinul laahu lakum aayaatihee la'allakum tahtadoon
Thus, God explains to you His revelations so that you may be guided,
that you may be on the right path.
Waltakum minkum ummatuny yad'oona ilal khairi wa ya'muroona
bil ma'roofi wa yanhawna 'anil munkar;
Now muslims have become a community. A system has been established by them.
They have established their government in Medina,
even though it is of a tribal nature.
The community has become organized.
There is a stage when people profess faith individually,
they don't even own a piece of land, they are spread throughout the world.
So, an organisation is not possible in such a scenario.
But when a society comes into being, when Muslims become a group
then the Quran tells them that they are in a position to do so.
First, the Quran gave an introduction: Fear Allah, Obey Him,
steadfastly hold on to the rope of Allah,
make the Quran a central and axial part of your life.
Stay united and let nothing divide you in groups.
God has been kind to you that
He has put love between you and made you brothers when you were foes.
Allah has made this thing clear to you, now stay true to it.
Stay true to it, it is your collective responsibility.
In a society...
Children are born and they go through the stages of early years and adolescence.
Then they become adults, attain the age of maturity.
They are involved in a lot of contradictions.
A society cannot be termed as something that can stay motionlessness.
Therefore, in a society it is certain that like an individual has a part to
play in a society by virtue of his individual responsibilities,
likewise society too has some collective responsibilities.
For instance, parents cannot say that they have a child and they are feeding him,
but they do not have a responsibility for his fostering, education and upbringing.
If they do not foster and raise their children, the society would turn out
to be a jungle full of animals.
In a way, there will be kids who would be clueless about
the traditions of the society.
They would not want to live their life in any sort of rule or code of conduct.
Who would be unaware to the basic facts about edification and civilizations.
They would be alien to any transmissions of civilized code of conduct
or gentle behavior.
In terms of their inheritance, these children
would have received nothing of worth.
And they would be left without anything.
Similarly, when a society transforms to be an organized collective of people.
It is imperative to establish order.
Hence, even today all of humanity is unanimous about the fact that
humans cannot be left without any checks and balances.
Since, man has an innate quality of both good and evil.
It is always anticipated that people with evil intentions would incorporate in
evil activities like robbery, fornication, murder etc.,
They would develop discord in society.
So, in order to tackle these kind of situations, a order is established.
It used to take the form of tribal laws,
but now these laws are implemented on a state level.
This is the work of the government of a nation.
A complete rule of law is established and implemented in a nation state.
In a nation state, there are three foundational institutions.
A judicial system.
It is evident that if you are incorporating a system of
reward and punishment.
Allah has employed this method of reward and reprimand
on the day of judgement.
As a corollary of that principle a similar system for reward and punishment
has emerged in the globe, which is interpreted as the court of law.
For instance, society comes up with certain laws, code of conduct
and anyone who rebukes them faces punishment for the same.
And anyone who lives in consonance with the established law,
develops a way forward for himself.
Therefore, justice, judicial system or a system of reward or punishment
is a pre-requisite for a society.
It must be established in every society.
In today's parlance police department is constituted for the same purpose.
In order words, you establish such a department in the society that
works like a watchdog to uphold and support good things
and rebukes anything that is ill-intentioned and crosses its limit.
All the nations have had this police department from the start,
even in the tribal societies some people were appointed for a similar kind of job.
At times, it is impossible to handle the rebellion of states themselves.
As you say, if you have established a national system,
demarcated a territory for your state, then you cannot just expect the rebellious
attitude of people individually but a collective.
At times an entire nation becomes rebellious.
As a result, you organise your own army to deal with anything of this nature.
Therefore, this system of law is nothing but the manifestation
of the natural attributes of humanity.
Man would have constituted this system even in the absence
of any religious teachings.
Every society accepts it.
Philosophical debates have their own prominence, but it is a reality that
we cannot visualize a society without a legal framework.
Communism tried to envisage a journey without a system of judiciary and police,
but that could not be fulfilled.
Because it was against the natural instincts of man.
Man has such a being that entails a struggle for both good and bad,
It is a pre-requisite as He has been given the divine inspiration
for both good and evil.
There, a society was being organised there.
The reason I gave this lengthy introduction was that,
under the Quranic milieu, a society was getting organized,
Medina emerged as a small nation-state.
Those Muslims after being given some basic yet fundamental instructions were
asked to established a code of conduct,
in order to sustain this aforementioned system in the society.
Waltakum minkum ummatun
to accomplish this task, it is required that some individuals
be deputed from amongst you.
And what is this task that is to be carried out?
yad'oona ilal khairi who calls society towards righteousness
Notice that a different word has been used.
The word righteousness has been used for virtue;
you should call towards those things that are meant
for the betterment of humans
wa ya'muroona bil ma'roofi enjoin virtue, to enjoin good
wa yanhawna 'anil munkar and forbid evil.
Both these words are very important.
Maroof signifies those things which are agreed upon unanimously
by each and every individual that they are good deeds
and Munkar signifies those things which are agreed upon unanimously
by each and every individual that they are evil deeds.
The Quran stated that they should do that:
wa ulaaa'ika humul muflihoon
[Diligently arrange for this]
and [remember that those who do so] will only attain salvation.
This directive is given to the Muslims in their collective capacity:
in order to hold [steadfast to this directive of the Qur’ān]
they must depute some people from among themselves.
In modern times, if you look at the department of police
it in the light of the Quran, in the light of a muslims society
it serves this very purpose.
Their real job is to keep the organisation of the society intact,
spread righteousness, encourage virtue in the society
and not let crimes breed in the society.
To accomplish this task, two arrangements were made by muslims in their society;
one of them is the same which is done throughout the world
But the police department has become exclusive to hold people accountable
who perpetrate acts which are considered as crimes as per law,
for those acts that are considered cognizable.
But, in a Muslim society, the institution of a Masjid was created
for pedagogical reasons.
Such an institution, such a training institute, such a place of worship
was constructed where a law was legislated that
on every Friday, the leader or representative of the Muslims will come,
who will be accountable to the people and at the same time
he will instruct and counsel them as well.
According to this verse, two institutions came into being:
the institution of police, and an organisation in the form of a Mosque
which unfortunately became vulnerable to sectarianism.
There are certain other things as well and we will discuss those in the next session.
It is because it is a very important verse and
people have gone on to misunderstand it as well.
There have been mistakes made with respect to its meaning and subject matter.
We need a caution on that as well.
I will mention those things in detail. Let us end it on this note today.
And now let us have a look at its translation.
The Quran has stated:
Believers! If you yield to a group from among these People of the Book,
they will turn you back from belief to disbelief.
[Be forewarned of this] and [just reflect]
how can you disbelieve when God’s verses are being recited to you
and His own Messenger is among you. [So hold fast to God]
and [remember that] he who holds fast to God
[then know that] he shall be guided to the straight path.
Believers! Fear God as you rightly should,
and when you leave this world, leave it only as followers of Islam
and together cling to the rope of God and let nothing divide you
and remember the favour God has bestowed upon you:
when you were enemies of one another so He united your hearts
and with His grace you became brothers
and [remember] when you stood at the very brink of an abyss of fire;
then He saved you from it.
Thus God explains to you His revelations so that you may be guided.
And let there be appointed among you a number
which calls towards righteousness, enjoin virtue and forbid evil.
[Diligently arrange for this] and
[remember that those who do so] will only attain salvation.
I say this saying of mine, and
I seek forgiveness from Allah for me and for you.