Quran Garden

Session 352

Chapter 3

Verse 20

If they argue with you, say, “I have devoted myself to God alone and so have my followers.” Ask those who were given the Scripture, as well as those without one, “Do you too devote yourselves to Him alone?” If they do, then they are indeed rightly guided, but if they turn away, your only duty is to convey the message. God is All-Seeing of His servants.

(Chapter 3: Verse 20)

God revealed the phrase “if they argue with you” to prepare our beloved Muhammad for the reality he is about to face.  The Prophet was confronted by three camps, The first was the idol worshippers of Quraish, at the peak of their political and military power. The second camp was the people of the book -namely the Jews and Christians-.  Lastly, there were the hypocrites.  Surprisingly, the fiercest arguments came from the second camp.  The people of the book had a connection to the heavens and should have been the first to recognize God’s new message.  The idol worshipers, on the other hand, did not claim to have a heavenly religion, so their opposition was understandable. 

To argue means to go back and forth where each side presents its case.  In this verse, the argument is between the monotheism of Islam on one side, and the idolatry and polytheism of the people of the book on the other.  Since this debate was between the truth and falsehoods, God was not about to leave the Prophet without support. 

God says, “If they argue with you, say, “I have devoted myself to God alone and so have my followers.” Is this a proper response to the argument? We answer, Yes, this is proper because of what the Quran tells us about the people of the book and the idolaters.  God says,

And if you ask them, “Who created the heavens and earth?” they are sure to say, “The Almighty, the All-Knowing created them.” (43:09)

And in another verse,

And if you asked them who created them, they would say, "God."How, then, have they been perverted? (43:87)

Hence, the phrase, “I have devoted myself to God” is the perfect answer because it asks everyone to submit to the One they uniformly recognize as the Creator. 

The phrase “devoted myself,” is translated from the Arabic origin “Aslamtu Wajhee.”  The literal translation is, “I have submitted my face.”  Why? Because the face is the most distinctive and honorable feature; it expresses emotions of pleasure and sadness. If you prostrate unwillingly, your face will show it.  Likewise, the signs of contentment and happiness are apparent on your face when you feel closeness to Allah. 

By submitting your face to God, you submit your entire being.  In fact, “the face” as an expression is sometimes used when the whole being is intended. God says,

Do not call out to any other god beside God, for there is no god but Him. Everything will perish except His Face. His is the Judgement, and to Him you shall all be brought back. (28:88)

Everything will perish except He the Almighty; this is what is meant by “His Face” in the verse. Always remember that all the attributes that are common to humans and God come under the principle we find in verse 11 of chapter 42,

There is nothing whatever like Him.

Some scholars explain phrases such as “God’s Face” to mean God’s essence, and the “hand of God” to mean the power of God.  We answer that we do not need to go into such explanations.  We believe that there is nothing whatsoever like Allah. Hence, we have protected ourselves from making an error in understanding Him.  We do not equate God with His creation; neither do we strip the Quranic text from its literal meaning.

This brings us back to the verse.  “The face” is used to refer to the self because people are identified by their faces, not their body parts. The phrase, “I have devoted myself to God alone, and so have my followers,” indicates that Muhammad, peace be upon him, submitted himself to God after he received the heavenly revelations.  Likewise, anyone who follows the message of Muhammad has submitted to God even if he or she did not receive revelations directly from the heavens.  Prophet Muhammad is the messenger of the truth who delivers God’s teachings to all humanity; so, there is no need for each individual to receive a separate memo from Allah. 

Allah commands His Messenger, “Ask those who were given the Scripture, as well as those without one, “Do you too devote yourselves to Him alone?” Here we should recognize that there are two types of questions.  First, some questions are asked to investigate and search for the truth.  For example, your mom asks you when you come home from school, did you get your math grades today? Or, did you see your friend john at school? The other type of questions is meant to prompt an action or to issue a command.  For example, you have a guest in your home.  You turn to your son and say, “have you served our guest coffee?” This is a command -disguised as a question- for your son to rush and bring coffee for the guest.  Let’s look at an example from the Quran.  God says,

With intoxicants and gambling, Satan seeks only to incite enmity and hatred among you, and to stop you remembering God and prayer. Will you not give them up? (5:91)

The question “Will you not give them up?” is a command to refrain from drugs and gambling because of their social and personal harms.  Similarly, the question, “Do you too devote yourselves to Him alone?” is a call to unity in submission to the One God because of the overwhelming evidence of His existence.