Q. I shall be grateful if you throw some light on the meaning of Verse 63 of Surah 2, which also occurs in similar wording in 5: 69. It appears that four categories of people will attain success in this world and in the life after death. These include Muslims, Jews, Christians and Sabeans, should they meet three criteria, namely belief in God, the Day of Judgment and doing good works. Please comment.
M. Asif, Jeddah
A. The two verses are almost identical. There are some minor differences, but the message they give is the same. Let us quote what Sayyid Qutb says about them in his priceless commentary, In the Shade of the Qur’an: What we have here is a clear statement of the faith which God accepts from people, regardless of what they were called before the message of the last Prophet. It was the faith which united people of all creeds and doctrines in ancient history. "Those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Sabians, and the Christians — anyone who believes in God and the Last Day and does what is right shall have no fear, nor shall they grieve." (Verse 69.)
The passage names four groups: ‘those who believe’ refers to Muslims, and the Jews are the followers of Prophet Moses. The term Sabians refers, most probably, to those who abandoned the worship of idols before Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) message, worshipping God alone, following no particular creed. There were a handful of Arabs among them. The Christians are those who followed Prophet Jesus Christ (peace be upon him).
This verse states that whatever their creed was, those who believe in God and the Last Day and do what is right — and it is implicitly understood here and explicitly elsewhere in the Qur’an that they have done that in accordance with the final Prophet’s message — will attain salvation: "shall have no fear, nor shall they grieve." (Verse 69.) They need not worry about what they used to do or under what title they were classified. The most important title is the last one.
What we have been describing is implicitly understood from this Qur’anic verse. It comes under that part of our faith which is essentially known to all people. It is a primary concept of this faith that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the last of all prophets and a messenger of God sent to all mankind. All people, regardless of their religion, creed, belief, race, and nationality, are called upon to believe in his message as he preached it in essence and detail. Any one who does not believe in him as a messenger and does not believe in the totality and the details of his message remains in error. God does not accept from him the religion he followed prior to the revelation of Islam. Nor is he included among those described by God as people who "shall have nothing to fear, nor shall they grieve." (Verse 69.)
It is this primary concept of faith which a Muslim may not compromise on under the great pressure of the jahiliyah or darkness in which humanity lives today. Indeed, a Muslim cannot overlook this concept when he establishes his relations with other people of different creeds and religions. He cannot try to reduce the pressure of ignorance by coming to terms with the followers of other creeds or doctrines, giving them the privilege of having "a faith" acceptable to God and constituting grounds for mutual support.
(This is quoted from the English edition of: Sayyid Qutb, In the Shade of the Qur’an, The Islamic Foundation, Leicester, Vol. 4, pp. 196-197)
Non-Muslims and visiting mosques
Mr. A.R.A. Anas wants to know if he may bring his wife, who is a Catholic, into a mosque where she may listen to lectures and sermons, and learn about Islam. He says that the mosque has a special hall for women and the lectures are normally translated into a language which she understands. He hopes that in this way she would be able to learn enough of Islam to convince her of its truth.
I do not know a reason which prevents anyone who wishes to learn about Islam from coming to a mosque and listening to the Qur’an, lectures, sermons and other forms of education.
The Prophet received nonbelievers in the mosque and he read the Qur’an to them and explained its basic principles and teachings to them. He did not ask them to declare their belief in Islam before they could enter the mosque.
It is only in latter days when Muslims acquired a rather close mentality that we began to think that non-Muslims must not come near anything Islamic. How are we to invite people to accept Islam, unless they listen to the Qur’an and learn about the Prophet’s teachings and about Islamic principles and values? However, care should be exercised, and when we have a non-Muslim guest in a mosque, we should assign someone to help him so that he or she does not do something that is likely to offend Muslims or breach Islamic rules.
