Quran Garden

Session 403

Chapter 3

Verses 76 & 77

No indeed! Whoever fulfills his pledge and is wary of Allah —Allah indeed loves the God-wary.

(Chapter 3: Verse 76)

The verse starts with a negative statement, "No indeed," translated from the Arabic origin بلى (Bala), which negates the statement before it and affirms its opposite.  Allah is revoking the words spoken by a few corrupt Jews and Christians.  They claimed, "We have no responsibility toward the unlettered people." Allah answers, "No indeed." In other words, "Yes, you must be fair to the common folk, regardless of their religion and literacy."    

The verse continues with the general statement, "Whoever fulfills his pledge and is wary of Allah —Allah indeed loves the God-wary."  Which pledge is this? It is the covenant of faith that we chose to accept freely.  When you believe in God and declare your faith, you accept every judgment issued by Him and vow to abide by what He asks of you.  If you do not abide by God's commands, your faith is worthless; it is just empty words. 

That is why many verses in the Quran start with the phrase, "O you who believe," then mention religious rulings.  For example, God says:

O you who have believed, eat from the good things which We have provided for you and be grateful to Allah if it is Him that you worship. (2:172)

            Allah, the All-Merciful, does not issue orders or assign obligations to the disbelievers.  He only invites them to join the faith. God only assigns duties to those who willingly believed in Him and sought His guidance.  Faith is a personal commitment you make to the Lord.  Only after you declare your faith does Allah address you with the commands "do" and "do not do."  This is made very clear in the Quran because all religious rulings can be found in verses that start with the phrase "O you who believe." 

Many people misunderstand the statement, "Whoever fulfills his pledge and is wary of Allah —Allah indeed loves the God-wary." They incorrectly assume that God's love is referring to the person.  In other words, they think, "If I fulfill the requirements of faith and be mindful of God, then He will love me, and I can do whatever I like after that."  But remember that God does not value a person for his or her own sake.  Allah values the good deeds that you perform with sincerity.  Thus Allah did not say, "Whoever fulfills his pledge and is wary of Allah —Allah indeed loves him."  Instead, He said, "Whoever fulfills his pledge and is wary of Allah —Allah indeed loves the God-wary," pointing to piety as the object of love.  So make sure that you always hold that quality within you, so you remain loved by the Lord.

We remind you of an example we gave before about God's promise to Noah to save his family from drowning.  Noah was later surprised to find his son in grave danger and about to drown.  He raised his hands towards the heavens and supplicated:  

"O Lord, my son is surely a member of my family, and verily Your promise is true, as You are the most just of all judges." (from 11:45)

to which God replied:

"O Noah! He is not of your family. He is one of unrighteous conduct. So do not ask of Me what you have no knowledge of. I caution you so that you do not behave as one among the ignorant." (11:46)

            Note that God did not hate Noah's son; rather, He detested His actions and explained, "He is one of unrighteous conduct." God attributed the matter to the deed, not the person.  Likewise, in the verses under study, God's love is attributed to the act, not the person. 

Now we move to the next verse in Al Imran.  God says:

As for those who sell out God's covenant and their own oaths for a small price, they will have no share in the life to come. God will neither speak to them nor look at them on the Day of Resurrection; He will not cleanse them of their sins; agonizing torment awaits them.

(Chapter 3: Verse 77)

When a verse mentions buying and selling, we should take time to understand the transaction properly.  In the olden days, people traded by exchanging items of direct benefit to each other such as food, wood, and livestock.  For example, a person may exchange wheat for fabric.  There isn't a buyer and a seller in such a scenario because both have bought and sold at the same time.  

A buy and sell transaction is different because it entails exchanging an item of direct benefit, such as food, wood, or livestock, for money, which has no direct benefit.  For example, when you buy a loaf of bread from a bakery for five dollars, the bread benefits you directly because you can eat it, while the money does not benefit the baker directly.  Money does not fill your stomach, quench your thirst, or clothe you.  In a buy and sell transaction, a person pays a price of money to buy something of benefit.  In other words, you sell money to purchase an item. 

When you read the phrase "As those who sell out God's covenant and their own oaths for a small price," you realize that the transaction is upside down: someone bought a price!  They exchanged what is directly beneficial –which are God's teachings– for something of little benefit.  It is similar to a usurious interest transaction where money itself is the good sold and bought.  A lender sells a hundred coins in exchange for a hundred and ten coins from the borrower.  Money, although not of direct benefit to either party, becomes the commodity being traded.  That is a prohibited transaction because it devalues work and makes money the sole object.  God says:

Those are the ones who have purchased error in exchange for guidance, so their transaction has brought no profit, nor were they guided. (2:16)

This brings us back to the verse, which has a story behind it.  During a period of drought and famine, a group of Muslim travelers came to Ka'ab Ibn Al-Ashraf, a prominent Jewish merchant, and asked for food and clothes.  He asked, "Do you believe that this man –Muhammad– is the Messenger of God?" They replied, "Yes, we do."  He said, "That is too bad.  I really wanted to help you, but God has deprived you of much good."  They wondered, "Why?" He said, "Because you have declared faith in Muhammad."  When they found themselves in this situation, they said to Ibn Al-Ashraf, "Give us some time.  We have some suspicions about the message of Muhammad, and we want to think things over."  They returned shortly and said, "We did some reading, and you were right. Muhammad is not a messenger."  In essence, this group of people preferred food and clothing over God's guidance. 

Keep in mind that the verse is general as it applies to anyone who exchanges God's teachings for a price.  It does not have to be food or clothes; some people exchange their religion to fit in and keep up with the times.  Others sell out for a job or political gain.  Whoever puts up his or her values for sale in exchange for worldly gain is included in the verse.  God says:  

As for those who sell out God's covenant and their own oaths for a small price, they will have no share in the life to come. God will neither speak to them nor look at them on the Day of Resurrection; He will not cleanse them of their sins; agonizing torment awaits them.

 (Chapter 3: Verse 77)