Absolute Justice, Kindness and Kinship — Page 312
Covenants, their Different Categories, Punishments and Rewards 305 And remember when Allah took a covenant from those who were given the Book, saying , 'You shall make this Book known to the people and not conceal it'. But they threw it away behind their backs, and bartered it for a paltry price. Evil is that which they have purchased. (S u rah al -e-‘Imr a n; Ch. 3: V. 188) The covenant is not an ordinary contract, it is far more binding on those who pledge their allegiance. So the Holy Quran speaks of the people of the Book as a party of the covenant and as such they will be held more strictly responsible for any breach of it on their part. The essence of the covenant was that they would certainly convey the teaching of their Prophets as to the future generations without any change or concealment. Even if they considered some wording of the teaching to go against their held beliefs, they would still convey the full text without interpolation. The matter of the final decision would be left to the people themselves. They could judge after hearing their side as well as hearing the side of the opposite camp. Then, whatever conclusion they could draw would be their responsibility and not that of the scholars. But the Holy Quran declares that the scholars of the Book did not keep their part of the covenant and sold it for a paltry price. Whenever Messengers as of God are rejected, they are rejected because of the breach of contract of the previous people. The same happened at the time of the