The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 704
CH. 9 AT-TAUBAH PT. 10 اجَعَلْتُمْ سِقَايَةَ الْحَاجِ وَعِمَارَةَ الْمَسْجِدِ Do you hold the giving of. 19 الْحَرَامِ كَمَنْ آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ maintenance of the Sacred وَجْهَدَ فِي سَبِيْلِ اللَّهِ لَا يَسْتَوْنَ عِنْدَ drink to the pilgrims, and the Mosque as equal to the works of him who believes in Allah and اللهِ وَاللهُ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّلِمِينَ the Last Day and strives in the path of Allah? They are not at all equal in the sight of Allah. And Allah guides not the unjust people. 1182 الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَهَاجَرُوا وَ هَدُوا فِي Those who believe and. 20 migrate from their homes for سَبِيْلِ اللهِ بِأَمْوَالِهِمْ وَأَنْفُسِهِمْ أَعْظَمُ the sake of God and strive in the Commentary: "4:96; 57:11. The prosperity of a Mosque of God, and for that matter of the Ka'bah itself, lies in the fulfilment of the noble object for which it is built. This object is the glorification and the remembrance of the name of God in it; and certainly this object is much the better realized by prohibiting those from visiting it who, instead of glorifying God, attribute co-partners to Him, and by encouraging and exhorting true believers to frequent it. The words, these it is who may be among those who reach the goal, signify that, since believers destined to prosper, even the material prosperity of the Ka'bah will not suffer from the exclusion of infidels; for, believers will go on pilgrimage to it in ever-increasing numbers. 1182. Commentary: are of the Ka'bah, though in itself a meritorious act, is as nothing compared with the spiritual service thereof, which only a true Muslim can perform. If the preservation of the true faith were to involve the temporary destruction of the building of the Ka'bah, the Quran would unhesitatingly endorse such destruction, because it is the preservation of the faith and not the preservation of a house, however sacred it may be, which is the aim and object of Islam. The verse thus also implies an effective answer to the baseless view that Islam attaches greater importance to the outward form of its ordinances than to the spirit underlying them. It may also be noted here that, according to the teachings of Islam, even the life of a true believer has greater sanctity than the House of God. Says the Holy The outward and physical service Prophet: "A believer possesses greater 1144