Read the Quran Chapter 3 English

3:1-4
The Creator and Sustainer of the universe is not a mechanical God. He is, in fact, a live and conscious Being. He has sent guidance for man throughout the ages, including the Torah and the Bible, which were revealed to the former prophets. But man has always put different constructions upon divine teachings. Thus, through his self-styled interpretations, he has divided one religion into many. Ultimately, in accordance with God’s plan, the final book in the form of the Quran was sent down to man. The Quran is not only a genuine book of guidance but also serves as the criterion or standard of right and wrong. It tells us which is the true religion and which is the religion devised by human beings through misinterpretation. Now those who, denying the book of the Almighty, refuse to abandon the religion devised by human beings, are deserving of His punishment. These are the people to whom God granted eyes, but who failed to see the light (sent by God in the form of this book). These are the people to whom their Creator granted minds, but who failed to understand the truth when it came to them in the form of arguments. Bowing to the truth required them to bow to the Prophet and to God, and they thought that by surrendering to the Supreme Being and His Prophet they would diminish in stature. To save their petty ‘greatness’, they refused to bow to the Truth.

3:5-6
Only God can truly tell us what He is in His Being and in His attributes. And He has made this so clear in His Book, that any reader who is eager for knowledge of Him will certainly gain enlightenment from it. Again, it is only God who can truly give guidance to man. The right course of action for man can be determined only by a Being who has not only known man from his birth to his death, but also knows what has gone before his birth and what will happen after his death. It is, therefore, only God who, after placing the nature of man in the perspective of the entire universe, may decree what kind of conduct will guarantee man’s success in this world and the next, for a sound human mentality can only be one which is in harmony with the rest of the world and in complete accord with the vaster system of the cosmos. It is only God who has the power and the knowledge to ordain what it befits human beings to strive for in the present world. This being so, the only realistic approach for man is to trust in His Maker and accept and follow His guidance wholeheartedly and with full confidence.
3:7
There are two kinds of subjects dealt with in the Quran, one pertaining to the known human world, like historical events, signs from the universe and commandments for worldly life; the other pertaining to unseen matters which are not comprehensible by man in this life, for instance, God’s attributes, and the states of Heaven and Hell, etc. The first are clear revelations, quite precise in their meaning, since they have been couched in a direct style. The second relate to the unknown world (for man) and cannot, therefore, be expressed in everyday language. That is why they are framed in an allegorical style. For instance, if we say, ‘man’s hand’, this is an example of the expression of a fact, but if we say, ‘God’s hand’, this is an example of an allegory. Those who do not understand this difference fall into the error of interpreting allegorical verses quite literally. This will only lead man astray; he will never arrive at the truth. Whereas a ‘human hand’ may be precisely understood, a ‘divine hand’ cannot, because of our present limited thinking capacity.
3:8
The correct academic and intellectual stand regarding the allegorical part of the Quran is for man to acknowledge his limitations. One should be content to have an abstract understanding of the things which cannot be grasped precisely by the senses. When, due to his imperfect sensory perception, man cannot have a total understanding of those realities, the practical approach should be not to make any attempt to determine the precise meaning in these matters. Instead, man should pray to God to save him from entanglement in fruitless discussions. He should pray to God to grant him such wisdom as will enable him to recognize his place and be content to repose his faith in those realities, without knowing all of their details. A Day is soon to come when these realities will come into full view, but it is not possible for man to comprehend them as long as he is still being put to the test in this life, by his Lord. The path of the intellect may be a slippery one, where the intellectual may slip and fall in failing to see things in their right perspective. He understands reality, but only when he looks at it from the proper angle. When he does so from another angle, it is quite possible that he will fail to assess it properly and will be a prey to misunderstandings. The greater wisdom for man is to learn the secret of seeing things from the correct standpoint.

3:9-12
When the call of Truth goes out, it appears to people to be of no value. On the one hand, there are all the assets of worldly comfort and grandeur, while, on the other hand, there is the caravan of truth, having no foothold in society, and no worldly interests attached to it. In such a situation, joining the caravan of truth amounts to detachment from the social circle and depriving oneself of all material benefits. That is why, in order to safeguard his interests, man turns away from the truth. If it means abandoning his friends and relatives, he is not ready to join a lone preacher (da‘i). But all the material considerations that appear important today will cease to matter on the Day of Judgement. Their importance will last only so long as dealings are between man and man. The Day the veil of Doomsday is rent asunder, and all issues are to be settled between man and God, all worldly things will become insignificant—as if they had never existed. The missionary in this world appears to be powerless, but in reality, he is powerful, because God is backing him. The denier appears to be influential in this world, but is, in fact, totally powerless, because his strength is nothing but a temporary delusion.
3:13
The battle of Badr in the fourteenth year of the prophethood was a worldly example of what will happen in the next world. Those who deny the truth greatly exceeded the believers in numbers and in strength. In fact, the believers were so few in number that they were powerless. In spite of this, those who denied the truth suffered a crushing defeat and the believers achieved a decisive victory. This is a clear proof that God is always on the side of the believers. In the face of such a great difference in resources, an extraordinary victory cannot be achieved without God’s succour. This serves as a demonstration from God that truth does not go unsupported. It is also a clear indication to those who deny the truth of how they are placed in this world. There are obvious signs in the words and deeds of the preacher that the Truth he preaches comes from God. But the arrogant find refuge in fine words to refute this. They live by false explanations, until finally they leave for the next world, only to learn that the words in which they had taken refuge were utterly meaningless from the standpoint of reality.

3:14-15
This world is a place of trial. God, wishing to ascertain which of His creatures are capable of rising above worldly attractions, has so willed it that man should be attracted to and find gratification in the things of this world, but at the same time be faced with the choice of clinging to them or renouncing them in favour of the unseen things of the next world. This is not an easy choice, for he sees that worldly acquisitions lead him to an honourable place in society. By possessing material resources, he can have all that he wants in life. This gives him the impression that it is these things that are of consequence. All his interests and activities centre around his family, his wealth and his property. This presents the greatest obstacle to advancing towards the demands of the Hereafter. The aura of importance surrounding worldly things makes him oblivious of all that pertains to the next life. He is so engrossed in building the future of his children in this world, that he no longer remembers the fact that there is any ‘future’ beyond this present life, to which he should give thought. Providing all comforts for his home in this world becomes so dear to him that it never occurs to him that there is any other home save this, to which he should pay heed. Making money, accumulating riches and possessing property in this world seem so estimable to him, that he fails to realize that there is any ‘wealth’ other than this, to which he should devote his life. However, all these things with the external glitter of this present life will be of no use to him in the next, eternal life. It is only one who makes the permanent life of the Hereafter the focus of his attention who will realize the insignificance of these worldly things.

3:16-17
He will be filled with the conviction that the matters of the next world are entirely in the hands of his Lord and all the glitter of this world will appear meaningless. As a result, God will be the entity he fears most and he will be desirous of the next life more than anything else. He will not follow his mundane desires, but will rather determine his course of action, keeping in view the court of the Almighty. There will be no discrepancy between his words and his actions. His wealth will no longer remain his, but will be devoted to the cause of God. Whatever difficulties he faces in the path of his Creator, he will adhere to that path with total steadfastness, because he will have the conviction that no one can give him succour if he turns away from God. His heart will be filled with His remembrance, and he will start calling upon Him spontaneously. God will be his companion in his solitude. In the presence of His greatness and perfection, his own being will appear completely insignificant. He will have no words to utter but—‘O my God, forgive me.’

3:18-19
The God of the universe is the One and only God and He likes justice. This assertion is made in all the revealed scriptures which are still in their original form. The vast universe run by its Master through His unseen agents, the angels, is exactly what it ought to be and as perfect as it can be. According to established knowledge, the universe seems to be a completely unitary system. This would indicate that it has a single Planner. Moreover, everything in the universe being in its right place is a proof that its Lord loves justice and righteousness rather than injustice and wrongdoing. Then how can God, who has maintained justice in the vaster universe, allow injustice in human matters? Each and every part of the universe is in a complete state of ‘surrender’, that is, all its functions are performed in accordance with the appointed plan of God. Exactly the same performance is required of man. Man must recognize his Lord and mould his life in accordance with God’s plan. Making anyone else, save God, the centre of his attention or nurturing the thought that God’s judgement can be based on anything other than justice is inconceivable in the present universe.

3:20-22
The call of the Quran is the call of the same true version of Islam, the religion of submission to God, as was revealed to all the other prophets. Those who deny this do so, not because its truth is not clear to them, but because of their own sense of superiority. Acknowledging its veracity amounts, as they see it, to accepting the intellectual superiority of the proponent of the Quran. And their jealousy and arrogance do not allow of such an acknowledgement. Instead of accepting the truth, they want to exterminate the dayee himself. However, this is not possible in this world of God. All their plans to censor the dayees’ words will fail, and when God’s scales of justice are put in place, they will see that those actions, which had given them the conviction of securing success and salvation, are quite without value. True argument is one of God’s signs. One who does not bow to a true argument, fails to bow to God. Such dissenters will enter the next world divested of all support.

3:23-24
God’s guidance is one and the same as that revealed to various prophets from time to time in various languages. The same guidance was revealed to the Final Prophet in the form of the Quran. Due to this uniformity in content, recognizing the call of the Quran is not difficult for the People of the Book, i.e. believers in other revealed scriptures. The only difference between the Quranic call and former divine scriptures lies in the fact that the Quran has purified the religion of God of all human interpolations. Then why is it that many people deny the call of the Quran? It is because the Quranic call does not appear to them to be a serious matter, vis à vis their self-styled concepts by which they feel that they have safeguarded themselves from the fire of hell. It is as a result of this mindset that they think that, even if they do not recognize the truth, their salvation is still not at risk. But when the divine scales are put in place, they will realize how deluded they were in their wishful thinking.

3:25-27
All kinds of honour and power lie in the hand of God. Those who are considered insignificant by the leaders of the time can be entitled to the highest honour and eminence by the grace of God. In the eyes of God, it is those who regard such attainments as being purely and simply the gifts of God who are deserving of honour and power. The most undeserving of honour and power are those who consider them to be their own acquisitions. In the vaster universe, God daily performs the miracle, on a colossal scale, of bringing darkness after light and light after darkness (i.e. the alternation of day and night). He brings into existence life from dead elements and causes living things to die. There is nothing surprising about it if this same power of God manifests itself among human beings. But those who exchange falsehoods in the name of truth always turn against the call of truth. The preacher of truth may ultimately be rendered homeless and his economic resources may be cut off. But such an individual is always under the direct guardianship of God, who provides for him His special succour. While others are provided for according to their efforts, a messenger of truth is provided for by God ‘without measure’.

3:28-29
A believer treats all human beings with justice and fairness, without differentiating between Muslims and non-Muslims. But friendship with non-Muslims who are at war with Islam is not lawful. In the eyes of God, it is our intention that matters: when our intention is sincere, God does not take us to task for our actions. The key factor, worthy of consideration in all matters, is the fear of God. One should always give proper thought to one’s behaviour, whatever the issue, because one is accountable to God for everything. Whoever is proved wrong on the divine scale cannot escape punishment. Nothing pertaining to human beings escapes the eyes of God, whether in public or in private. When the veil of the divine test is cast aside, the world of the Hereafter will appear before mankind and the fruits of all man’s actions will be before him. This sight will be so dreadful that all the things of this world which had appeared so pleasing to him, will now be the very things from which he will want to distance himself. What is most important in the eyes of God is whether Islam is implanted in one’s heart or not. A believer is one whose love for God springs from his heart, who loves God truly in his heart of hearts. It is people such as those who deserve God’s love and attention. One who forms such a bond with God is forgiven by Him for his failings. God is hard on the arrogant. But He is gentle with those who adopt modesty as their way of life.

3:30-32
It is a psychological reality that one who loves someone cannot at the same time love the enemy of the beloved. It is also a fact that when the beloved is a Being who has the status of one’s Creator and Sustainer, then this love will necessarily bring about in the lover the desire to obey that Being in all matters. If the love of God does not produce in him feelings of obeisance to Him, then such a love is false. A believer who is one in name only will be included among the deniers. God Himself has testified to the Prophet’s total obedience to Him in all matters. So the authentic example of a life of God-worship in this world is only such as was handed down to us by His messenger.

3:33-44
God blessed Zachariah (Zakariyya) with an offspring in his old age; provided sustenance to Mary in her shrine; created Jesus without a father, and brought into being chaste and upright people who were descendants of Abraham, so that they could be chosen to communicate the message of God to human beings. God did not grant these blessings to His people for no good reason: He found them so deserving that he showered them with His blessings. These were the people who had no material expectations from their children; their happiness rested upon their children’s dedication and devotion to the cause of God. These were the people who wanted their children to be safe from Satan and join the band of believers. They were not given to jealousy and ill-will on seeing goodness in others. It was through their good influence that their children too were in control of their selves and became one with those who truly remembered God: who chose the right way, abandoning the path that leads one astray. Such are the people whom God provides for out of His special mercy, and who have His special blessings showered upon them.

3:45-48
The Jews were chosen by God for the special mission of being the bearers of divine guidance so that, along with following the path of God, they should also communicate this guidance to others. But the rot set in in the Jews in later times. Then a time came when they were no longer worthy of being the bearers of divine guidance. God then took away this trust from them and gave it to the other branch of Abraham’s dynasty, the Banu Isma‘il. Before the enforcement of this decree, it was necessary to prove to them that they were no longer to be trusted. Jesus Christ was sent by God for this purpose. His extraordinary birth and his performance of extraordinary miracles were meant to convince the Jews of his messengership (i.e. that he had been sent by God) and that he was speaking on behalf of God.

3:49-51
Jesus Christ was not only given extraordinary signs from God, but he spoke in so effective, persuasive and logical a manner that no one in his time could equal him. When he spoke for the first time in the temple, ‘all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.’ (Luke 2:47). It was on account of his miraculous personality and his astonishing powers of speech that, although he was born without a father, no one dared to abuse him on this score. However, the Jews had become so insensitive and insolent that, in spite of very clear proofs, they refused to believe in him. ‘Surely in this there is a sign for you, if you are believers’ means that the proof, as presented, although complete in itself, would make sense only to one who wanted to believe; who had the ability to come out of his self and ponder over its veracity; whose nature was so receptive that the question of personal prestige did not become an obstacle to the acceptance of truth.

3:52-54
The religious leaders of the Israelites refused to believe in Jesus Christ. In any society, it is the leading lights who have access to all resources, and, in addition to being in possession of religious seats, they become the representatives of religion in the eyes of the people. This being so, if someone is rejected by these influential people, not only is he deprived of life’s resources, but even after losing all for the sake of truth, he remains a heretic in people’s eyes. In such circumstances, the most difficult of tasks is to support a preacher of truth. It means testifying to his veracity in a general atmosphere of suspicion and opposition. It amounts to siding with the truth when it stands alone and unsupported. When the truth is presented in all its purity, all those who are leading a life of untruth feel on the defensive—especially those who, by having pasted the label of truth on their lives, have secured a position of honour in society. It is such as they who rise to suppress the call of truth, setting the people against the caller by putting wrong constructions on his words. When this does not work, they finally plan to resort to the use of power in order to annihilate both the call and the caller. But God’s succour is always with the preacher. That is why no opposition to him succeeds in suppressing the truth, and he is able to complete his mission. Those who oppose the call of truth are mischief-makers in the eyes of God. This is because they stop potential believers from reaching the path of Paradise. No evil can be greater than obstructing the path of those intent upon entering God’s Paradise.

3:55-58
Jesus Christ was born into the Jewish community, but the Jews did not affirm his prophethood. Instead, they made out a false case against him and took him to the Roman court in Palestine. The court decreed to have him crucified, but God saved him and the Roman soldiers crucified another person who resembled Christ, taking him to be Christ. To punish this crime of the Jews, God decreed that the believers in Jesus Christ, would forever, till Doomsday, have dominion over the Jewish people. This is what was decreed by God for this world. The Hereafter however, is a different matter.
3:59
The Christians believe that Christ is the son of God, and that he is different from all other human beings. Since his very birth was quite exceptional in that he had no father, how could he be a human being like any other? They hold that his uncommon birth itself shows that he was not the son of man but of God. But this contention can be shown to be invalid by comparing the birth of Christ with the birth of the first man. (All of us, the Christians too, believe that Adam was the first man.) He was not born in the normal way, i.e. having a father and mother, but came into existence directly by God’s command. Then when Adam, born without a father, is not God’s son, how could Jesus Christ, who was also born without a father, be the son of God?

3:60-63
Najran (about 150 miles north of Sana‘ towards Yemen) was a great centre of Christianity at the time of the revelation of the Quran. In the 10th year of the Hijra, a Christian deputation came from Najran, to discuss Christian beliefs with the Prophet Muhammad. The Prophet presented many arguments to them. He asked how Christ could be God’s son, when God is a living being who would never die, whereas Jesus would eventually be overcome by death. They could not counter his arguments but, nevertheless, stood their ground. When the Prophet saw that they were not going to accept his arguments, however sound they might be, he gave them a final challenge. He said that if they really believed that they were right (in believing Christ to be the son of God) they should be ready for a mubahalah, i.e., a solemn meeting, in which both sides should summon not only their men, but their women and children, to pray earnestly to God, and invoke the curse of God on those who lied. Those who were pure and sincere in their faith would not hesitate. The next day the Prophet came out of his home accompanied by his grandsons, Hasan and Husayn, and his daughter Fatimah, and son-in-law ‘Ali. On seeing this the Christians were so impressed that they sought some time to reconsider. In their consultations one of their religious scholars said: ‘You know God has promised to send a Prophet among the Ishmaelites. Suppose he be the same prophet. In that case, the only result of engaging in a mubahalah with him would be the destruction of all our people and its effect would even extend to our next generations. By God, I am seeing such faces as could move mountains with their prayers. So it is better to enter into certain peace treaties with him and go back to our homes.’

3:64-66
The concept of monotheism is not only a basic teaching of the Prophet Muhammad but is also enshrined as an established reality, even in the interpolated versions of the Torah and the Bible. Judged on this established criterion, Islam, unlike Judaism and Christianity, is proved to be a perfectly true religion. Monotheism implies belief in only one God. He alone should be worshipped. No one should be associated with Him. No man should be accorded that special place which is the sole prerogative of the Lord of the Universe. This concept of monotheism is preserved in its pure form only in Islam in the Quran. Other religions, while accepting monotheism ideologically, also adopted almost everything that ran counter to it. While believing in God as the Sustainer, in practice they accorded that status to their saints.

3:67-71
The Makkan polytheists called their religion the faith of Abraham. Jews and Christians too bracketed their religious history with that of Abraham. In every age people have used the names of their prophets and saints to justify their own additions to and inventions in religion. After the passage of time, people fail to differentiate between the original religion and its later version. The later version is ultimately taken to be the real religion. The atmosphere surrounding it is such that, when the call to return to true and pure religion is given, its opponents find the easiest way to discredit it is by making public allegations that the caller is against the religion handed down to them by their saints. One who is the true representative of the religion of ‘saints’ is now rejected in the name of former saints. This is because what his opponents hold up as their yardstick is not actually the original version of religion as given by the saints of the past. Instead it is the body of alterations and additions made by later followers and subsequently accepted as the ‘religion of the saints’. This is like drawing a veil of falsehood over the truth. That is, making pronouncements which are invalid from the religious and logical point of view. But since the public does not have the ability to analyze them, it deems them to be right and is thus distanced from the truth. The hanif (monotheist) is one who treads the straight path of monotheism and the non-hanif is one who deviates from the straight path, going instead into by-lanes. Sometimes the secondary aspects of religion are so emphasized by the interpretation put upon them that they appear to be the main foci, the actual core of religion. In this way its fundamentals lose their significance and people stray from the straight thoroughfare of monotheism into the byways of unimportant issues.

3:72-74
A community into which prophets and reformers have been born and in which religion has held sway for a considerable period of time, is often mistaken in thinking that their ethos and the truth are synonymous (that is, whatever they believe and practise is nothing but the truth). It comes to believe that guidance has something to do with a particular community rather than being a matter of principle, and is unwilling to accept such truth as has been revealed elsewhere. This was the case with the Jews. Under the influence of historical traditions, they began to believe that whoever was one of them was on the right path, and that whoever was not, was misguided. Even today, they tend to forget that truth is something that comes from God and not from an individual or a community. Although they are ostensibly adherents of a divine religion, in reality for them their community is supreme, while God is relegated to a secondary place. This mentality casts such a veil over their eyes that they become unable to see any merit outside their own fraternity. Even in the face of clear signs and arguments, they doubt the veracity of any outsider, and strongly oppose any call of truth which comes from without. In obedience to their false standards, they try to stifle such a call. They would not hesitate to adopt unjust methods to curb the activities of the preacher. They would even resort to spreading false propaganda to cast doubt upon his veracity. Going against God’s commandments, they adopt two separate criteria of behaviour, one for the members of their own community and another for outsiders.

3:75-76
Being particularly chosen to represent His religion is one of the special blessings of God. Such a choice is not based on one’s belonging to a certain community. The recipient of this blessing is one whom God selects for his spiritual virtues. And God likes one who is so attached to Him and who so fears Him that He becomes his Keeper, and his Lord in the true sense of these words. Indeed, when the believer enters into a covenant with his Creator, he is not able to go back. God’s chosen servants are those who fulfill their trusts and do not break their promises. It is people such as these who are showered with God’s blessings. On the contrary, those who are careless in the fulfillment of trusts and are negligent about keeping their promises are of no value in the eyes of God. They will be denied God’s mercies and blessings.
3:77
On embracing the faith, the individual enters into a covenant with God that he will obey Him and that, living among human beings, and pledging himself to a life of constraint, he will fulfill all the responsibilities that God’s law imposes upon him. Such a life can be adhered to only by one who has risen above worldly interests. One who is ready to overlook the divine pact whenever his self suffers or his worldly interests are endangered barters the world for the Hereafter at a very paltry price: whenever the question arises of choosing either the world or the Hereafter, he always prefers the world. How can one who attaches so little value to the Hereafter be deserving of God’s mercies in the next world?

3:78-80
Those who buy the world in exchange for the Hereafter do not deny religion or the Hereafter outright. Rather, they fully associate themselves with their religion. Then how do they reconcile these two conflicting spheres? This is done in a devious way, that is, by putting a self-styled construction upon revealed teachings. Aspirants to material honour and glory pervert the teachings of their religion in order to justify their worldly ways, sometimes by altering the wordings of revelations and sometimes by a wilful misinterpretation supportive of their selfish interests. Instead of changing themselves, they change the book of God, so that whatever it takes to give a religious aura to their irreligious lives may be shown to be contained therein. The most heinous crime in the eyes of God is to attribute to God something which He has not said. The simplest and most certain testimony of the truth of any teaching is that it brings God’s servants closer to their Lord, that it directs people’s feelings of love and fear towards God. On the contrary, any teaching which produces a personal cult or any other cult for that matter, or which diverts peoples’ finer feelings and emotions towards anything other than God, should be considered based on falsehood, even if it be couched in religious terms.

3:81-83
Discovering God is to find an eternal reality. It is to become a co-traveller or a travelling companion of the whole universe. Those who find God in this way, can rise above all kinds of prejudices. They recognize truth in all situations, whether the call of truth comes through an ‘Israelite prophet’ or an ‘Ishmaelite prophet’. But those who lead their lives on the level of community-oriented thinking can recognize the truth only when it comes to them from a member of their own community. If God selects as His messenger someone from outside their community, then the message he brings does not lodge in their minds, not even when their own hearts bear witness to the veracity of that message. Even if such ‘believers’ regard themselves as true believers, they will find their names deleted from the list of believers in the Hereafter. This is because they recognized the truth only in relation to their community rather than in relation to God. Not acknowledging a message of truth, which has been testified to by their own hearts, is the worst crime in the eyes of God. Such people will be condemned in the Hereafter and all creatures will join in this condemnation.

3:84-91
Not acknowledging any truth external to their community appears to be a bid to save their faith. But in actuality it destroys their faith. God’s true believer lives on God’s continuous inspiration, so that one who confines himself to self-worship and community-worship will be blocking all paths to God’s blessing entering into him. After being deprived of God’s inspiration, what will there be left with which to nurture his faith?

3:92-97
According to the Jews’ self-made set of religious laws, eating the meat of the camel and the rabbit was illegal, while it was quite licit in Islam. So the Jews would ask, if Islam was a revealed religion, why it was that the lawful and the unlawful were different in Islam from what had been laid down in the former revealed religions. Similarly, they would ask how it was that a religion revealed by God could command the direction of prayer to be the Ka‘bah instead of al-Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem), which had remained the direction for prayer in the teachings of all the prophets up till then. They in fact refused to believe that God could reveal a religion in which the Ka‘bah was held to be the direction for prayer.

3:98-99
When the call of truth comes in all its purity, the interests of those who contrived to convince others that their self-styled religion had indeed been revealed by God are put at risk. People serving their own interests oppose the new messenger by raising different kinds of objections based on fallacies in order to turn others away from the true message. In their self-styled religion the basics of faith are not stressed. Instead, by giving importance to hair-splitting arguments on the relative aspects of religion, the acme of virtue is equated with full adherence to a man-made religious form. For example, they would shun rabbit’s meat, saying that it was not consumed by their saints, although along with this, many illegal things would have been legalized by them. They would consider it of the utmost importance to face exactly in the direction of al-Bayt al-Maqdis, like a compass needle pointing to the pole. But they would show no interest in making their daily activities God-oriented. Virtue, however, hinges upon the making of sacrifices and not on the mere fact of opting for a religious form. God’s true servant is one who offers his Lord the gift of love, and for whom no material thing is dearer than God. He is ever ready to pay the price of losing his prestige by recognizing the truth; he is ever ready to spend his wealth for the cause of God. Whoever is ready to pay the price of sacrificing his most cherished ambitions will be counted among the virtuous and considered a God-worshipper in the eyes of God.

3:100-101
This world is a place of trial. Here, man is forever exposed to Satan’s evil temptations. So there is always the possibility of Satan’s succeeding in turning one from belief to unbelief. Then, while in this state—devoid of the true spirit of faith—one’s time of departure from this world might come, making it almost impossible for one to make amends. That is why it is always necessary for man to be cautious: he must become his own keeper. The actual mainspring of religion is fear of God (taqwa), that is, adopting till one’s dying day an unshakeable sense of accountability to God for all of one’s actions. This is the true and straight path. Any turning away from this path occurs when certain parts of the religion are modified in order to change the order of priorities, e.g. what is important is relegated to a secondary place, and vice versa. Such deviation mostly occurs when some secondary aspect is taken to be a fundamental part of religion and is stressed in a manner which should be reserved for the fear of God and concern for the Hereafter. Whenever such alterations are made in a religion, it necessarily results in differences which lead to serious schisms, with one group stressing one particular secondary aspect and another group stressing another particular secondary aspect—all of which culminates in the community splitting up into a number of sects. While an attitude inspired by the fear of God (taqwa) focuses all attention on the one and only God, in the absence of such fear, it is purely trivial matters which are thrust to the forefront. When peripheral issues are thus given importance, the upshot is disunity—and this is what brings on all the evils that push man to the brink of Hell. Disunity in a group must, therefore, be eschewed at all costs, for it will lead to calamity both in this world and in the Hereafter. It must be conceded that it is only when all of the emphasis is on taqwa that unity is a natural consequence.
3:103
Before the advent of Islam there were two tribes, the Aws and Khazraj, inhabiting Madinah. Both were Arabs, but they continuously waged war against each other. Attacks and counter-attacks had considerably weakened them. When they accepted Islam, all hostilities ended: they became like brothers. The reason for this is that one who denies the truth is faithful only to his own self, while a believer gives his allegiance solely to God. In a society where individuals are faithful only to their own selves or to their groups, many allegiances naturally come into existence. The result is strife and dissension. On the contrary, in a society where all its members bow only to one God, everyone is directed towards a single focal point. All being bound by one and the same cord, mutual clashes and strife cease altogether.
3:104
This command pertains, on the one hand, to the common man and on the other to the intellectuals and the educated class. The educated should be strenuous in their efforts to enjoin goodness and forbid wrong in the community. Their keen awareness of the need for reform should ensure their continuing concern with the state of the people: they must encourage everyone to follow the path of goodness and shun the path of evil. However, for such an effort to succeed, the public must be submissive; they must be willing to listen to their elders. They must show respect for them, follow them as they are bid and stop where they are told to stop, thus surrendering themselves to their religious reformers. A Muslim community’s success thus depends respectively upon the attitudes of the religious elders and of the public. It is in an atmosphere of listening and obeying that society can be reformed, ensuring success both in this world as well as in the next. In short, elders motivated by the true religious spirit, should never shirk their responsibility towards their community of enjoining goodness upon them and forbidding evil.

3:105-110
The benefit the intellectuals have of being imbued with this spirit is that all their attention remains focussed on goodness, that is, on the basics of religion. They have thus no time for hair-splitting arguments about secondary aspects of religion. Those who become the heralds of God’s greatness and arise both as warners and as harbingers of glad tidings have not the time to waste their expertise on matters of no significance. In this way, the task of exhorting people to lead a life of righteousness and forbidding evil engages them in finding solutions to real problems. Verbal jousting over supposed problems seems to them meaningless and futile, just as a farmer finds the game of chess a futile exercise, a waste of time. In showing willingness to be obedient to well-intentioned religious elders, the people are saved from schism and strife. Submitting to an authority unites all of them. Unity becomes a common attribute of believers, and unity, without doubt is the greatest of all powers in this world.

3:111-112
Subsequently, God sent His religion in its original form through the Prophet Muhammad. Now the Muslims have undertaken the obligation of guiding people to the true religion of submission to God. The assignment of this role demands that they be true believers in God. It devolves upon them to enjoin goodness upon the world and to inform mankind of whatever is evil in the eyes of God. Since this is a mission assigned by Almighty God, He Himself has guaranteed to help His emissaries surmount all obstacles to their performing this task. Those who come forward for this divine mission have God’s pledge that their opponents will not be able to inflict any real harm upon them.

3:113-115
This refers here to the conduct of the People of the Book (believers in former revealed scriptures), and their immediate recognition and acceptance, in all humility, of the divine truth as proclaimed from the lips of the Last Prophet. At that time there was, on the one hand, the religion of Moses, invested with all the strength of historical grandeur and sanctity of tradition. On the other hand stood the religion of the Prophet Muhammad, which had yet to acquire the force of argument, historical grandeur and traditional sanctity to support it. This difference between Moses’ religion and the religion of the Prophet of the time posed the greatest obstacle to the acknowledgment of the latter’s religion. Yet this obstacle was successfully overcome and the religion of the contemporary Prophet was welcomed.

3:116-117
The love of wealth and children becomes an obstacle to accepting a religion, which entails all kinds of sacrifices. And adherence to God’s religion is not a matter of engaging in hollow pretences of piety carried out in the public eye. Just as a gust of chill air ravages the whole harvest, so will the tempest of the Last Day (qiyamah) render valueless all such ostentatious acts. There were some among the Jews who believed in the Prophet Muhammad. And a few God-fearing people are more precious in the eyes of God than a host of ungodly people. But merely being a member of a community formed of one race in the name of a prophet, is not enough to earn one salvation. What is actually required of an individual is that he binds himself by a covenant with God. By ‘covenant’ is meant faith—the sacred bond between God and man. That is to say, personal actions and not community relationship make one deserving of God’s mercy and blessings. All the responsibilities that faith implies are included in this pledge. Remembering God in one’s solitude, worshipping Him, leading one’s life keeping in view the Hereafter, enjoining goodness upon the people around one, discouraging people from committing evil, working unstintingly for the cause of God—all such actions fulfill the divine covenant. Those who follow such a course are upright people in the eyes of God. God has full knowledge of their actions, for which He will reward them, and He will greatly honour them on the Day of Judgement.
3:118
This refers only to people whose enmity has become apparent from their behaviour and their utterances (Tabari). The Muslims believed in the same divine faith as was given to the former People of the Book by their prophets. The religion of both was one in terms of actual reality, but the People of the Book opposed the believers. The reason being that they had formed a self-styled religion, which they attributed to their prophets. It was due to this self-styled religion that they had been enjoying a position of leadership with the people. In a true religion of God, all attention remains centred on God, whereas in a self-styled religion, people's attention is diverted to the founders of the religion and the commentators. Upholders of the latter form of faith never tolerate the call of true religion, because this would amount to displacing themselves from their position of eminence. In such a situation, true believers should refrain from negative reaction and adhere steadily to the path of patience and piety 'taqwa'. Patience 'sabr' entails holding fast to the truth under all circumstances, and taqwa entails regarding God, and no other, as the only decisive power. If believers give proof of maintaining this kind of positive attitude, no enmity, however great, can harm them.
3:119
This refers to the contemporary Jews or Christians.
3:120
The existence of love in the hearts of true believers for the People of the Book and the lack of love in the hearts of the latter for the believers shows who really subscribes to the truth and who does not. God is all mercy and justice. God is the Creator and Sustainer of all human beings, so whoever finds God in the real sense of the word, will open his heart to all God’s creatures. For him all human beings equally become the family of God. Then he begins to like for everyone what he likes for himself. But those who have not found God in the real sense of the word, those who have not subordinated their will to the will of God and who live only on the plane of the self, regard life’s possessions as paramount, both at the personal and the communal level. This mentality makes them inimical to anyone who appears to be against their interests—who is not, in short, a member of their own community. In spite of believing in God, they tend to forget that this world was made by God, and that no strategy can be effective here without God’s approval.

3:121-124
These verses were revealed after the Battle of Uhud which took place in the third year after hijrah. The enemy forces numbered three thousand, while the Muslims who rose in defence were initially only one thousand in number. When three hundred hypocritical Muslims, led by ‘Abdullah ibn Ubayy, deserted, some of the Madinan Muslims were disheartened at this, so the Prophet reminded them that they had come forth to defend themselves, relying on God rather than only on themselves. If, due to the severity of circumstances, believers show some temporary weakness, God does not leave them to fend for themselves. He sends His special succour to restore their faith. This special succour of God was sent to the whole group of believers at a time when, by exploiting the weakness of the Muslims, the enemies had overcome them, and had every opportunity to crush the Muslim forces completely. But the enemy army, in spite of being victorious, retreated from the battlefield. This astonishing event in military history took place because of the special divine succour, which diverted the enemy towards ‘Makkah’ rather than ‘Madinah’ (the Muslim area). It was the defeated who pursued the victorious.

3:125-129
Believers should never be upset at any lack of manpower or resources. When small in number, they should have the conviction that God will amply compensate for this by sending angels down to help them. When confronted with inadequate resources, they should trust God to create such situations as will compensate for this deficiency. Success depends more on patience and being God-fearing (taqwa) than on material resources. Those who fear and trust God can receive His divine succour in two ways: first, by His causing a section of the enemy to be brought to repentance and submission, thus reducing their number; and second, by His bringing about their outright defeat. The first kind of God’s succour comes by way of dawah work. God opens to the truth the hearts of those opponents, who have some receptivity in them, and thus they join the believers. In this way they weaken the enemy forces and strengthen the believers’ ranks. By the second method, God gives strength and courage to the believers and enables them to emerge victorious.

3:130-134
Engaging in usury is the ultimate in money worship. A usurer thinks day in and day out as to how to double and quadruple his money. But what he ought to pursue relentlessly is not the acquisition of material things but his entry into Paradise in the Hereafter. He ought to be ever eager to attain God’s mercy and blessing, but not by increasing his worldly wealth in order to guarantee himself a life of grandeur in this world. Honour and success are of no importance when compared to Paradise, the pleasure and enjoyment of which are immeasurable. Wise is the one who pursues God’s Paradise. Hastening towards it means giving away more and more of one’s wealth for the cause of God. The way to worldly success is to increase one’s riches, while the way to success in the Hereafter is to decrease one’s riches. If the inspiration to tread the former path is the love of money, the inspiration towards the latter is the love of God and His Messenger. If the ‘wealth’ of the former is worldly profit, the ‘wealth’ of the latter is the profit of the Hereafter. Where those desirous of riches have the fear of worldly loss, those of a spiritual bent of mind fear loss in the Hereafter.

3:135-138
Those who fear God lead their lives as if God is watching over them, that is, as if all their actions are performed so as to be more and more pleasing in the eyes of God. Instead of leading a life of licentiousness, they lead a life of constraint. The requirements of the religion of God become their own requirements and for that they spend in charity under all circumstances, irrespective of whether they have much or little. When enraged, they control themselves. When there is a cause for complaint, they forgive instead of reacting negatively. They too fall into error, but that is only temporary. They immediately realize their mistake and return to God, spontaneously invoking His forgiveness and seeking His mercy. Whatever has been stated verbally in the Quran is borne out by the events of Islamic history. But advice is heeded only by those who are keen to have it.

3:139-141
Accepting faith amounts to making a pledge to lead one’s life according to God’s commandments. God has promised the believers success in this world and Paradise in the next. Besides this, He will confer upon those who have suffered rejection in this world, the foremost honour of being chosen as witnesses in His court. And it will be on the basis of their evidence that the eternal fate of all human beings will be decided. But one will not receive this status merely on the strength of verbal claims to have embraced the faith; each individual will have necessarily to prove his genuineness in terms of the patience he has exercised on earth and his struggle for the cause of God. Difficulties and obstacles will be placed by others in the path of the believer in both cases, that is, whether he wants to base his personal life on faith and belief or stand before others as a witness of the religion of God. Persevering in God’s cause while facing all odds and difficulties along the way is a form of struggle, or jihad, while standing by one’s pledges and never taking an emotional step are a form of patience, or sabr. Whichever group struggles while remaining patient and peaceful will be successful in this world of God as well as in the Hereafter. It is people such as these who are deserving candidates for Paradise.

3:142-143
When an individual resolves to follow the path of God, he is confronted with many kinds of problems and difficulties created by others. Sometimes these problems produce in him a state of uncertainty; sometimes they make him think of opting for a policy of expediency; sometimes they arouse negative feelings within him; sometimes he is tempted to embrace such a version of God’s religion as has great public appeal. Herein lies the test of man in the present world. Whatever reaction man shows on such occasions serves as an indicator of whether he is false or true in his acceptance of faith. If his actions correspond to his verbal claim of faith, he is true, and if not, he is false. Becoming God’s witness is the final destination of this journey. Let us imagine a servant of God who comes forward as a preacher of truth before the people. He himself fully practises what he preaches. People may regard him as insignificant, but he does not mind. He faces difficulties, but he is not discouraged; he perseveres in sending out the call of truth. He is neither disheartened nor given to negative thinking. Even when he has to pay the price with his life and property, his stand is not shaken. This test is a momentous one; but it is as a result of his passing this test that God selects him to be a witness in His divine court. When, despite all sorts of adverse situations, man continues to perform the task of conveying the divine message, he proves that he is convinced of the truth of the message he preaches. Furthermore, this also shows that the message he conveys to others is not just a trivial matter, but an extremely serious one.

3:144-145
During the battle of Uhud, a cry was raised that the Messenger had been slain. This news seriously depressed certain Muslims. But the real servants of God are those whose religiosity is not based on a human personality. God requires a religiosity that attaches His servants with all their hearts and souls to the one God. A believer is one who follows Islam for the truth of its principles rather than for the support of some human individual. One who enters the fold of Islam in this way, finds it such a blessing that his spirit overflows with feelings of gratitude to God. He begins to regard the Hereafter, and not this world, as his all in all. Life becomes to him a transient thing, for he knows that he is going to be faced with death at any point of time. He is able to discern the universe as a divine workshop, where each happening takes place at God’s will and where God is both the Giver and the Taker.

3:146-148
People who realize these truths are the true followers of the path of God. If God wills, they are invested with honour and power in this world as well, and so far as the eternal and superior rewards of the Hereafter are concerned, these too are reserved for them. However, this status is earned only when the believer has passed all the tests, when his eyes are set on God, even when all the apparent supports have crumbled away. His life being at risk fails to depress him. He does not retreat even when he sees the destruction of his worldly position before his very eyes. He regards any loss he incurs as the result of his own shortcomings. He holds himself responsible for it, and seeks forgiveness from God. When he is blessed with some good thing, he knows that it comes from God and he is thankful to Him. Such people become deserving candidates for all kinds of blessings showered upon them by their Creator. They who have thus discovered God are the most precious of souls and have themselves wholeheartedly enrolled in God’s plan. Remaining united at crucial moments and adhering strictly and with patience to the truth are the qualities that make believers deserving of divine succour.

3:149-151
The temporary defeat of the Muslims at the battle of Uhud gave an opportunity to the opponents of Islam to prove their stand that the credo of the Prophet and his companions was not a divine matter. It was just the boyish enthusiasm of certain people and now they were suffering for it. Their enemies would point out that had it pertained to God, they would never have been defeated at the hands of their opponents. However, such happenings, even if the results of the Muslims’ own errors, are, at all events, ‘test papers’ from God. A happening like that of Uhud must take place in this world in order to find out who are the ones who truly trust in God and who are the ones who are to fall by the wayside. Such happenings serve as a two-sided trial for the believer. He passes the test only if he perseveres at all times, is not influenced by the adverse remarks of others and is not discouraged by temporary setbacks.

3:152-153
When believers show steadfastness at crucial moments, God sends His special succour, that is, He strikes terror into the hearts of those who deny the truth. Any person or group who adheres to anything other than the true divine religion is standing in fact on quicksand. For, there is no other real base to build on in this world except the truth revealed by God. As such, whenever one has proved to be standing firmly on the ground of God’s religion, the ranks of those who deny the truth begin to show signs of disarray. Lacking sound arguments, those who deny the truth, unlike the believers, suffer from feelings of uncertainty and inferiority. This lack of conviction finally leads to their downfall. They are ultimately defeated at the hands of true believers. But in the case of the Muslims, their weakness and defeat are traceable solely to their disunity arising from dissension. Yet unity cannot come about in a society solely on the basis of uniformity of opinion. It takes united action also, even in the face of divisive opinions, to ensure total cohesiveness within a community. Only when a community thinks on this level can it remain united and powerful. When people start breaking up into factions, just because of disagreements, the resulting weakness will most certainly lead to defeat.
3:154
The most important thing for the believer, in life’s trials and tribulations, is to remain calm and composed, so that he may draw up his plans with full concentration. Such composure and concentration derive from complete trust placed in God. Even on the most earth-shaking of occasions, when people find it impossible to sleep, the believers are able to revitalize themselves with the soothing effect of sleep. This was demonstrated on the occasion of Uhud when, despite the severest of conditions, they were able to have a good night’s sleep. Rested and refreshed, they then pursued the enemy forces as far as Hamraul-Asad, some eight miles from Madinah. Severely wounded and defeated, they would not have been able to take any further action, had calm not descended upon them. This hot pursuit awed the enemy, who turned about and retreated to Makkah. This is the state in which the believers live, whereas those who have not made God their guardian and protector in the full sense of these words, inevitably fear for their own lives. Bereft of any concern for religion, they are engrossed in their own selves. Such people are never blessed with composure through divine succour.
3:155
On the occasion of Uhud, ‘Abdullah ibn Ubayy counselled that the defence of Madinah should be undertaken within the walls, instead of the Muslims boldly coming out to meet the enemy. The Prophet, however, at the instance of some other sincere Muslims, went out of the city to meet the enemy, posting his men strategically on Mount Uhud. The battle began well for the Muslims, but turned to near defeat because of the disobedience of a band of fifty archers who had been given the task of guarding a certain pass. Seeing the imminent Muslim victory, they abandoned their posts, attracted by the prospects of booty. When this victory turned into defeat, the hypocrites who had deserted the Muslims even before the battle started, on the pretext that their counsel had not been accepted by the Prophet, began to say that, had their words been heeded, this calamity could have been averted. But death is decreed by God and comes regardless of circumstances. No precautionary measure can save one from death. Such happenings, whatever their apparent reason, are wrought by God, in order that His true believers may turn to Him in repentance and become worthy of further blessings from Him. Such happenings also serve to reveal the truth about those who are not the true servants of God. When the fifty archers posted at the Mount Uhud pass saw that the Muslims had won the battle, a large number of them insisted on going in pursuit of booty. Although ‘Abdullah ibn Jubayr and a few other companions pointed out that it was against the orders of the Prophet, they deserted their posts, leaving behind eleven men. Satan thus made inroads by using the dissension already evident among them. However, when they admitted their error, they were forgiven by God, and after the initial setback, God’s succour came to them too. The Almighty struck terror into the hearts of their enemies, which resulted in their retreat, although they were just a few miles from Madinah. Had God’s succour not come, there was nothing to stop them from forcing their entry into Madinah and uprooting the nascent tree of Islam.

3:156-158
All that happens in this world is by the will of God. However, everything takes place under the veil of cause and effect. Incidents appear to have a cause behind them but, actually, they occur at the will of God. Man’s faith is put to the test through apparent causes, which make it difficult to see the hidden hand of God in all things. The non-believer is the one who is lost in trying to understand the causes and effects, while the believer is one who penetrates their veil to discover the actual reality. One who claims to be a believer, yet regards life and death, success and failure as the results of human strategies, is not true to his claim. When a non-believer suffers a setback, he grieves over it, thinking that had he adopted this or that course, he could have been saved. But when a believer confronts the same situation, he resigns himself to it by accepting it as the will of God. When a man has the conviction that everything happens by God’s will, then all other human causes appear insignificant and not worthy of further consideration. Those, on the other hand, who hold worldly resources important devote their whole lives to providing for the things of this world. But the only things of true value are those which will be theirs in the Hereafter—that is, God’s forgiveness and Paradise. Paradise is something which can be attained only at the cost of one’s life. Man’s existence on earth is the exact price he has to pay to enter Paradise. If he fails to make this sacrifice, he cannot be certain of his fate in the Hereafter.

3:159-160
The gentle way the Prophet is asked to deal with the believers (in this context those who had disobeyed him in quitting their posts, incurring defeat in the battle) is equally essential in any Muslim leader. Moderation is indispensable for him. This lenient attitude is required not only in normal, daily life but also in dealings between Muslims and non-Muslims, even where, due to the disobedience of certain people, a victory turns into a defeat. Unless the leader shows broad-mindedness and high thinking, a powerful polity cannot be established. Mistakes, however grave their outcome, if committed without any evil intention, are pardonable. The leader, therefore, should overlook this type of error while dealing with people. He should be such a great well-wisher of his people that he should pray to God for their guidance. Indeed, the good leader so values his people that he takes decisions on matters of importance only after consulting them.

3:161-163
The Prophet forgave the forty Muslims who had disobeyed his orders on the occasion of the battle of Uhud. However, people doubted that the Prophet had really forgiven them. They thought that he had done so only outwardly, for show, and that later he would show his anger. These verses tell us that the Prophet’s inner feelings did not differ from his outward behaviour. His actions never belied his words. This also indicates what a Muslim leader should be like. His heart should be free of malice, jealousy, hatred, etc., even at a time when such a grave mistake is being made by his people as was made by the Prophet’s companions on the occasion of the battle of Uhud. He should not even keep any malice hidden in his heart. He should live with his people, after his act of forgiveness, as if nothing had ever been amiss. Moreover, when Muslims trustingly handed over all their affairs to him, he should not exploit their lives and their wealth to serve his own personal ends. This would be crossing the limits, showing no fear of God’s wrath. How could one, dedicated to leading people along the path of God’s will, ever think of meeting God, if he himself had gone against His will?
3:164
The example set by the Prophet throughout his life must be followed by all reformers till Doomsday. For the task of reformation to be successful, it is essential that the targeted people should feel as if the reformer is one of themselves in every respect. His language, his style of speaking, his style of living— all should be familiar to them. No such feelings should be created between him and his addressee that may lead, in one way or another, to the latter becoming distanced from him, or to the addressee and the reformer becoming rivals. The first task to be performed among the people is to foster in them the ability to read the signs of God spread everywhere within and without their own selves. God’s signs should become part of their very mental make-up. The second task is to purify people. This end is achieved by the reformer speaking to them in person and giving them the opportunity to spend time in his company. The message can, of course, be put across through general discourses and writing, but this would only be in principle; whereas by resorting to individual communication the message can be conveyed in a more precise and detailed way. Then there is the question of the personality of the dayee, which should always lend weight to the message. Individual meetings thus serve the purpose of the purification of the addressees, or madu‘. The third task is to introduce to the madu‘ the shariah—the book of guidance on how life should be led in this world. The fourth task is to impart wisdom, that is, to unveil the secrets of religion and to highlight the truths hidden between the lines.

3:165-167
In the confrontation between truth and untruth, truth is always destined to have the final victory, because truth always has God on its side. However, this world being a world of trial, mischief-mongers too have full freedom of action. That is why at times, by exploiting some weakness of the believers—for instance, mutual dissension—they are able to inflict temporary harm on them. Yet such happenings, though tragic in appearance, have a good side to them as well, for in this way Muslims are put to the test. In the face of unfavourable situations, the insincere fall away, while the true believers persevere because of their total trust in God. In this way, it becomes clear who are the trustworthy and who are not. Furthermore, God’s mercy is all the more focussed upon them, when, after incurring loss due to their inadvertent mistakes, the believers turn to God once again in all patience and humility.
3:168
Those who participate in the encounter of truth and untruth in such a way as to make real sacrifices for the sake of truth, are scorned by worldly people as having destroyed themselves for no good reason. But this is a foolish assessment. Incurring a seeming loss in God’s path is a positive happening, because those who have sacrificed everything for God are the ones most deserving of God’s rewards. The foolish speak of those who sacrifice their lives in the path of God as if it is only they who die, as if those who are striving towards worldly ends do not taste death. This is entirely meaningless and those who speak of such things are never serious. Their hearts tell them that they have made a great mistake in not making sacrifices for the cause of truth, but by speaking ill of those who have done so, they want to keep up a pretence that they are in the right. But death is decreed for all human beings by God. It will certainly visit everyone at the appointed time. Whichever path one follows, none can escape from the clutches of death. People realize their mistake in their hearts, but they do not want to acknowledge it. In order to justify their course of action, they utter such words as even their own hearts attest to as being false.

3:169-172
The martyrdom of the believers was derided by the hypocrites. They said that Muslims were being slain meaninglessly at the instance of their leader—the Prophet. God says that, on the contrary, what they call death is in fact the true, real life, which they have entered through the gateway of death. The non-believers know only the profit and loss of this world. That is why sacrificing their lives for the cause of the Hereafter appears to them as self-destruction. But they ought to know that the believers’ ‘dead’ have a far better ‘life’ than those among the non-believers who are alive: in the Hereafter, they rejoice in the bliss they have attained through sacrifice for the cause of God. Satan’s way is to take in hand those people whom he finds closer to him, and prevent them from advancing towards religion, by showing them the ‘dreadful’ consequences of such a step. People who give in to Satan’s influences thus become his agents. They exaggerate the power and the resources of the opponents of Islam in order to awe the believers. But such kinds of propaganda only serve to benefit the believers. Their conviction is strengthened all the more that their God will not abandon them in a difficult situation.

3:173-175
The battle of Uhud took place at a distance of two miles from Madinah. After the battle, the enemy, led by Abu Sufyan, marched back and camped at a place called Hamra-ul-Asad, at a distance of eight miles from Madinah. After having camped there, it occurred to those who denied the truth that they had made a great mistake in leaving Uhud, as it was there that they had the best opportunity to pursue the Muslims as far as Madinah and crush their power forever. In the meantime, they met a trader’s caravan belonging to the tribe of Abdul Qays, going on to Madinah. They gave the people of the caravan some money and induced them to spread rumours in Madinah that would strike terror into the hearts of the Muslims. When they reached Madinah, they started saying that they had seen themselves that the Makkans were gathering a large force and intended to attack Madinah once again. However, the Muslims’ total trust in God was a guarantee that the planning of the enemies would prove counter-productive. The rumour about the Makkans actually benefited the Muslims, as they were now forewarned of their enemies’ intentions. Consequently, the Prophet along with his companions immediately marched towards Hamra-ul-Asad, prior to the Makkan army advancing on Madinah. When the Makkans learnt that the Muslim force was advancing towards them, they thought that the Muslims had mustered fresh forces. They immediately fled to Makkah, giving up all thoughts of attacking Madinah again.

3:176-178
The real problem is that, being veiled from our eyes, life is not what it appears to be. People are concerned with saving themselves from ‘hell’ (the difficulties and problems of this world) and devote all their attention to attaining the ‘paradise’ of this world. But it would be wiser to aim for the Paradise of the next world and in so doing save oneself from the Hell of the next world. Wealth, property and the trappings of honour are things that everyone can see with his own eyes. That is why man relentlessly pursues these goals, exerting himself to the utmost, so as not to be deprived of them. But the actual human dilemma is the question of the Hereafter. This real problem has been screened from our eyes, because human beings have to be put to the test by God. However, God has His way of informing people of it. This is done by selecting His messengers from amongst men, so that they may make people aware of the realities beyond death. The real test of man is to discover the truth in the message of the preacher (da‘i) appointed by God. He may see the actual reality in a verbal message. He may hear the divine voice in the voice of a human being. God speaks through His messengers—human beings. Now man has to acknowledge a man like himself as one receiving the divine message.
3:179
Having faith implies not being obsessed with one’s own self. Such an obsession amounts to assigning the position of greatness to one’s own self rather than to God. A believer should not be engrossed in the world, as this would mean that he did not attach real importance to the Hereafter. A believer should eschew arrogance, miserliness, injustice, and even love for and deep attachment to anything other than God. He should instead adopt the ways of God-worship, humility, generosity and justice. This would show that he is sincere in his faith and that he has actually dedicated himself to God and the Hereafter. Failure to do so means that he is not sincere in his faith. In spite of a formal acceptance of faith, he would in fact be living in this world very much like the non-believers. The division into good and bad souls in the Hereafter will be based on reality rather than on ostentatious behaviour. We find that wicked people too have been given full freedom. But it is only so that they can reveal their entirely perverse nature (what lies within them). Yet, however hard they may try, they can never succeed in vanquishing the believers. They have the power to use their freedom only where they themselves are concerned, not against others.

3:180-182
One comes to be called a believer by just repeating some words (kalimah), but so far as God is concerned, the would-be Muslim becomes a believer only when he sacrifices his life and his wealth for His cause. Without such a sacrifice, nobody’s faith is credible in the eyes of God. One thinks that by safeguarding one’s money one is safeguarding one’s worldly future. But man’s real future is that which pertains to the Hereafter. And money amassed for worldly purposes will only prove to be a curse for the hoarder.

3:183-185
Those who do not adopt the religion of sacrifice justify their stand in various ways. For instance, they say, ‘This wealth has been granted to us by God. Then why should we not spend it for our personal needs and worldly comforts?’ Sometimes their insensitivity leads them to such extremes that they attempt to discredit the preacher himself on one pretext or the other, or by trying to find loopholes in his message. The need for them to sacrifice their lives and wealth does not arise, if they can prove that the preacher is not a genuine one. These justifications appear to be in the form of valid arguments but, in fact, they are only excuses to avoid fulfilling the requirements of faith. Therefore, whatever truth is presented, they will always find words to counter the preacher’s arguments, and to justify their own actions. These people are oblivious of the fact that their final end is death. And death will completely overturn the whole state of affairs. It will nullify all the false props. Then man will find himself standing at exactly that point where he actually is and not where he has shown himself to be. In other words, he will be cut down to size. Success and failure in this world are one and the same thing in terms of reality. Neither are the blessings of this world a proof of one’s being in the right, nor are the difficulties, problems and setbacks of this world a proof of one’s being in the wrong. Both are forms of divine trial and not signs of one’s spiritual advancement or decline.
3:186
A man has to make the journey of faith in a world where he might be hurt in many ways, both by his own people as well as strangers. But under no circumstances should he fall prey to negative thoughts. He should rather confront every difficult situation as it comes and keep going on. He might be even provoked, but nonetheless he should restrain himself. He should bear every setback without resorting to vengeance. There might be many an occasion when his heart, unable to take any more suffering might tell him to break the bonds of God and act as his heart bids him. Still, the fear of God should stop him from taking such a step even then. The demands of religion inevitably require the ultimate sacrifice—which would mean sacrificing one’s life and wealth. In such a situation, one has to uphold religion by making sacrifices for its cause, though that might mean adopting the most difficult of the courses open to one. On the journey of faith, this is a tremendous test of courage and high-mindedness. Indeed, becoming a true believer is a trial which requires patience and piety. One who successfully qualifies in this test is the believer for whom the gates of Paradise will be thrown open in the Hereafter.

3:187-189
When a decline sets in in the bearers of a revealed Book, it in no way means that they have entirely severed their bond with God or His messenger. This is not possible, because religion becomes a part of the traditions of a community. It becomes a great national asset and a matter of tremendous pride. And once such a communal and national link is established with something, disassociation from it is just not possible for any group. However, this association with traditions in the name of religion is purely formal and lacks in genuine religiosity, for all worldly activities continue to be engaged in in the name of religion. Even when members of certain societies have nothing to do with religion, they want to be called religious. They want to take credit for things they have not done. Having no real concern for eternal salvation, they develop such concepts as appear to show that their salvation is certain. They follow a self-made religion, but call themselves upholders of divine religion. They are busy in activities serving worldly ends, but call these activities Hereafter-oriented. They call their self-styled politics divinely guided politics, declaring that they have been moved to action for the betterment of the ummah (community), whereas, in reality they do little more than serve their own national interests. One cannot save oneself from the chastisement of God by giving one’s irreligiousness the name of religion. When man remains engrossed in worldly pursuits, oblivious of matters which are important in view of the Hereafter, he is going astray, but when he engages himself in worldly pursuits in the name of God, or the Prophet, he is adding insult to injury, because he wants to be given credit for a faith which is hollow and actions which are false.

3:190-192
The universe with its whole existence is a silent declaration of God’s presence. When man removes the man-made veils from his eyes and unstops his ears, he starts seeing and hearing this silent announcement all around him. It then appears improbable to him that, in a universe where the stars and the planets have continued to exist for millions of years, man may cease to exist within fifty or a hundred years, taking with him to his grave all his desires and aspirations. In a world which abounds in the beauties of nature, with the fragrance of flowers, where countless meaningful blessings, like air, water and the sun have been provided, should man’s end be nothing but only sorrow and suffering? Then he also finds it unthinkable that, in a world of limitless possibilities where, just by sowing seeds in the ground, a whole forest of trees comes into existence, one should fail to receive the fruits of virtuous actions; that in a world where the sun shines daily after the dark night, centuries go by without being illuminated by the lustre of fairness and justice; that in a world where earthquakes and tempests lie dormant, man should continue to perpetrate tyranny and oppression without ever being checked.

3:193-194
Those who think deeply, seeking a more profound reality, find it unthinkable that a meaningful universe should have a meaningless end. They discover, that the message conveyed by the preacher is the announcement, in human language, of the same reality, which is being silently proclaimed by the whole universe. The greatest issue is that when the truth is unveiled, and the ‘sun’ of justice makes its appearance, they should not be left deprived and destitute. So when the truth appears, they rush towards it, remembering God. By breaking all personal bonds and ridding their thoughts of worldly considerations, they become one with the preacher of truth; so that in the next world, when the ‘darkness’ and the ‘light’ of the universe are separated, the Lord of the universe will make them inhabit the light, and will not abandon them to fumble eternally in the dark. The true measure of wisdom and unwisdom is wholly different from the one devised by human beings on their own. Here a wise man is one who lives in the remembrance of God, who can discover the divine meaningfulness at work in the creation plan of the universe. On the contrary, the unwise man is one who keeps his mind engaged in other more material things, who lives in this world as if he is totally unaware of the creation plan of the Lord of the Universe.
3:195
See note to 2:191.

3:196-197
The responsible life of the believers deprives them of any liberties that might be taken with the self. In their mission of communicating the Truth, many of their hearers turn hostile when they find that the success of such a mission entails a negation of their own existence. This state of affairs sometimes becomes so calamitous that believers are rendered homeless in their own homeland, having to suffer the oppression of their opponents. If they adopt the divine religion, it must be at the cost of their lives and property. In order to succeed in these tests, the believers should never place the considerations of this world above those of the Hereafter. Difficulties and unpleasantness should be suffered patiently. Negative feelings should be suppressed and any reaction should be refrained from. Believers must remain steadfast in their encounters with their opponents. It is this steadfastness, which draws God’s succour towards them. Besides this, it is necessary that all believers be united, joining together to face enemy onslaughts with all the strength of perfect union. Faith is in fact a test of patience, and only those who fear God can pass this test.

3:198-200
It often happens in this world that those who have no fear of God and have no concern for the Hereafter come into positions of dominance. All kinds of honour and glory surround them. On the other hand, the believers are often powerless. No share of worldly glory comes their way. But this state of affairs is temporary in nature. The situation will reverse itself with the advent of Doomsday. Those who lived in this world without any fear of God and gathered around them the honour and glory of the world will find themselves cast into the pit of humiliation. And those who had been denied worldly honour and successes, because of their attachment to God, will be the possessors of all kinds of eternal honour and success in the next world. They will be God’s guests and there is nothing greater on this earth and in the heavens than being God’s guests.