Essence of the Holy Qur’an — Page 16
Essence of the Holy Qur’ ā n 16 warned that at first by deifying Jesus they caused the wrath of God to come down upon them and that now they have become jealous of the Holy Prophet because God has chosen him for His favours. This jealous attitude of theirs towards the Holy Prophet resembles that of Cain towards Abel. The S u rah proceeds to state that while Jews and Christians lose no opportunity to oppose Islam, they themselves have become so depraved as to have ceased to act upon their own religious Scriptures and are increasingly becoming ignorant of the teachings of their own religions. They are told that if they do not see their way to accepting Islam, they should at least follow their own Scriptures and abide by their own Law. But if, owing to the political supremacy of Islam, they have sometimes to seek the judgment of the Islamic Government, that judgment will and must inevitably be according to the Qur’ a nic Law. Then attention of the Muslims is drawn to the great change that has come over their political position and they are told that as the power of the infidels has been finally broken and Christians now are to be their principal enemies, and Jews, in spite of their enmity towards Christianity, are to side with Christians, they (Muslims) should be on their guard against both of them. Some light is then shed on the stratagems and machinations employed by the enemies of Islam to turn Muslims away from their Faith and to lower it in their estimation. After this, importance of the preaching of Islam is impressed upon Muslims. They are told that the one real method effectively to defeat the activities of Jews and Christians is to preach the Message of Islam to them and to bring home to them its truth from their own Scriptures. It should also be made clear to them that now their salvation lies in Islam and that their idolatrous beliefs are false, particularly the doctrine that Jesus was son of God. Similarly, mention is made of Jews who, by opposing and persecuting the two great Prophets— David and Jesus—incurred God’s displeasure. Their attention is drawn to their past faults and failings, and Christians being more amenable to accepting the truth than Jews, commandments have been laid down which particularly concern them, viz. commandments about what is lawful and what is unlawful; commandments about oaths; about the use of wine and games of chance and about hunting; and also commandments regarding criticism of religion and ordinances about religious rites and ceremonies and about evidence. Last of all a somewhat detailed mention is made of the particular circumstances of Jesus’s ministry, and it is shown that they closely resemble those of other Prophets of God and that therefore there was nothing of Godhead or Divinity about him and that all material progress of Christian people was due to a prayer of his. But they have made improper use of their material progress and prosperity and have succumbed to polytheistic beliefs and practices. God will, on the Day of Judgment, establish their guilt and put them to shame from the mouth of Jesus himself. The S u rah ends with the declaration that to God belongs the Kingdom of the heavens and the earth and He has power over all things, which implies the hint that the belief that the Kingdom of God is only in heaven as the Christians say, has no foundation.