Quran Garden

Session 409

Chapter 3

Verse 81

A continuation

God took a pledge from the prophets, saying, "If, after I have bestowed scripture and wisdom upon you, a messenger comes confirming what you have been given, you must believe in him and support him. Do you affirm this and accept My pledge as binding on you?" They said, "We do." He said, "Then bear witness, and I too will bear witness." (Chapter 3: Verse 81)

             All the messengers, peace be upon them, were instructed to include the following covenant in their message: when the heavens intervene with a new messenger, people of faith must follow him and abandon intolerance, because Allah always guides people towards good.  He says, "If, after I have bestowed scripture and wisdom upon you, a messenger comes confirming what you have been given, you must believe in him and support him."

Here, you may ask, is this covenant only valid when two messengers are contemporaries of the same era?  For example, prophets Abraham and Lot were present at the same time; so were our beloved Shuaib and Moses, peace be upon them all.   We answer that God's covenant applies to all messengers, whether contemporaries or centuries apart. 

As long as people believe in their messenger and follow God's teachings, they should accept any new messenger who comes to confirm and expand on the Lord's teachings.  People must be aware that the heavens may intervene at any time, and they should discard fanaticism and welcome the messengers of their Lord.  God asked, "'Do you affirm this and accept My pledge as binding on you?' They said, 'We do.' He said, 'Then bear witness, and I too will bear witness.'"  

Let's take a moment to study the phrase "A messenger comes confirming what you have been given." All heavenly messages share the same creed of monotheism and accountability for one's actions.  God is One; to Him belongs absolute perfection; He is glorified in His essence and actions.  Heavenly messages differ, however, in the matters regulating daily life.  As life progressed, new circumstances arose that were not an issue in the previous era; thus, Allah sent new messengers confirming the creed and introducing new legislation better suited for the times.  He says:

In matters of faith, He has laid down for you the same commandment that He gave Noah, which We have revealed to you and which We enjoined on Abraham and Moses and Jesus: "Uphold the faith and do not divide into factions within it." What you call upon the idolaters to do is hard for them; God chooses whomever He pleases for Himself and guides towards Himself those who turn to Him. (42:13)

             When it comes to the day-to-day teachings, we see that Prophet Jesus brought rulings different from the previous prophets, as did Moses and many before them, peace be upon them all.  Thus, it was imperative for people to support any messenger that came with miracles and a scripture that confirmed the creed of "There is no god but God." 

Muhammad was sent to restore faith and guide the People of the Book back to God's path.  He, peace be upon him, brought a clear scripture confirming the heavenly messages before him and containing the undistorted stories of previous prophets.  This, however, presented a real threat to those who held religious and political power at the time. 

The Jewish rabbis of Medina recognized that Muhammad was God's messenger beyond any shadow of a doubt because they had his description in their books.  Some upheld their pledge to God and became Muslim, while others did not.  God says:

Those to whom We gave the scripture know him as they know their own sons. But indeed, a party of them conceal the truth while they know. (2:146)

Muhammad extended an invitation to every person who followed previous scriptures. 

Those who felt that Islam threatened their authority chose intolerance and fanaticism over faith.  They followed the distortions in their faith even though Islam came to clarify much of the matters they disagreed about. 

Allah wants to protect humankind from the evils of fanaticism that arise from blindly following a messenger while rejecting all else.  You should not use one of God's messengers as a barrier against another or set one heavenly message as the enemy of another.  Such actions are precisely why atheism is becoming widespread in our times. 

Nowadays, atheists use the rifts between heavenly religions and within each religion to sow doubt in people.  How come that so many groups who claim to follow divine guidance do not agree with one another?  How come that people who claim to be of the same faith are fighting each other?  If these religions were the truth, they would have agreed and not differed!  These types of arguments are only made possible by the people who ignored their pledge to God.  He says:

God took a pledge from the prophets, saying, "If, after I have bestowed scripture and wisdom upon you, a messenger comes confirming what you have been given, you must believe in him and support him. Do you affirm this and accept My pledge as binding on you?" They said, "We do." He said, "Then bear witness, and I too will bear witness." (Chapter 3: Verse 81)

If the followers of each prophet adhered to this covenant, then atheists would be stripped of their strongest argument.  People of faith should not be enemies to each other.  Instead, they should form one solid wall to confront the deniers of God.  Sadly, in our times, we often see that the enmity between people of faith is stronger than the enmity between the atheists and the faithful.