We are continuing with our chronological study of the Qur’an and are in the last few verses of Section Al-Furqan. We last investigated verses mentioning the qualities of believers, the worshipers of the Most Merciful One. We are reading the verses with the aim of applying the message to our practical living here and now. This study that we are doing touches upon the missing aspects that are not usually mentioned by the mainstream scholars of the Qur’an. We will focus on the belief aspect in terms of our practical living, our existence with the existence of other beings. How are we practically going to live with belief in God, His Revelation, angels, Hereafter and prophets? This includes the moral and ethical aspect which relates to our practical side and does not exclude the other perspectives. The Qur’an must be a guidance for me according to my time and conditions. For example, there are scholars who have expertise in matters of jurisprudence (Fiqh), and they study the Qur’an from that perspective. Some others study from the rhetorical side, and some others from the grammatical side. The Qur’an has been studied by many scholars from many perspectives throughout the history of Islam from the beginning up to now. Yet, it has not been fully exhausted.
We will continue with the following verse:
وَٱلَّذِينَ لَا يَدْعُونَ مَعَ ٱللَّهِ إِلَـٰهًا ءَاخَرَ وَلَا يَقْتُلُونَ ٱلنَّفْسَ ٱلَّتِى حَرَّمَ ٱللَّهُ إِلَّا بِٱلْحَقِّ وَلَا يَزْنُونَ ۚ وَمَن يَفْعَلْ ذَٰلِكَ يَلْقَ أَثَامًۭا
25:68 They are those who never invoke any other deity besides God, nor take a life, which God has made sacred, except in the pursuit of justice, nor commit adultery. Whoever does any of these will face punishment [for his sin or shall meet the price].
The phrase “لَا يَدْعُونَ مَعَ ٱللَّهِ إِلَـٰهًا ءَاخَرَ ” translated as “invoke any other deity besides God”. In the tradition from olden days, this was understood as those who were invoking idols made by their own hands. Nowadays, people don’t make idols to invoke them, asking them for a good future or interceding between their tribe and God. Instead, this refers to those who see any other source as responding to their needs, i.e. they don’t see their Creator who is the Creator of the universe as being the sole source providing for their needs. For example, chance, accident, nature or material means are the ones satisfying me. One may say that the state protects me, insurance protects me, etc. Physically, they may do but they are the arrangements of the Creator of the universe who provides by creating human feelings. The understanding that administrators who must take care of their population are given the sense, provided by their God. If I am sick, I would follow the advice from my doctor which is arranged by God. Human mind, health, compassion, and sense of help are all created by God. The doctor cannot create health but he can only learn how the creation works as it is created by the Creator of the universe in a perfect order. The doctor only advises the patient to attempt the means to ask the Creator to heal his illness. Imagining anything or anybody to be the creator of anything other than the Creator of the universe is the crime one may commit, and they will be punished accordingly. To be able to create something one must have the ability to bring something into existence from scratch rather than obeying the way the things are created and waiting for the result to be created next moment.
The relevance of “invokes any other deity beside God” is also felt in the creation of spiritual unsatisfaction or even pain of meaninglessness, purposelessness within one’s being while living in this world. These all act as warnings for us to come to the realization that things have an Owner, and they are purposefully created.
The worshipers of the Merciful One do not make such mistakes. This is a reminder for me to become the worshipper of the Merciful One.
The next phrase describes not taking a life (killing) which God has made sacred. What does “God has made life sacred” mean? The phrase “ٱلنَّفْسَ” can mean the followings: an individual, a person, anything, personal identity, self, essence, psyche, spirit, mind, essence. It may include animals, plants and even inanimate beings. For example, a bird, an ant, a plant are all sacred beings and they are all included in the meaning of “ٱلنَّفْسَ”. They are the gifts, creation of the Creator of the universe, “حَرَّمَ ٱللَّهُ” translated as “God has made sacred”. We are to respect His property. For example, my property is sacred to me, and I don’t want it to be disturbed by someone else. No one can insult my body which is sacred to me. In the same way, God’s property is all sacred to Him. The “Kaaba” is sacred as being the property of God where no one can invoke anyone else except the “Rabbul Bait” “Lord of the House”. Since the “Kaaba” “the House” represents the universe which is the property of God, who is the Lord of the universe. That means that the universe and everything in it are all sacred. Nothing in the universe has any independent quality from its Creator. We must never transgress the rights of anything in the universe which belongs to the Owner of the universe.
The phrase “إِلَّا بِٱلْحَقِّ” is translated as “except in the pursuit of justice”. In tradition the taking of life is mostly reduced to the killing of a person. The pursuit of justice is applied to when someone for no reason kills someone then this person must also be killed for that crime which is called retaliation. This is to allow others to know that if they kill someone, in fact they are killing themselves. We must generalize this pursuit of justice with not just human beings but all of creation.
The “justice” is a small part of “بِٱلْحَقِّ” where a large part has to do with the “truth”, the reality of the being. For example, when I want to use something owned by someone, I would ask for their permission to use it. I have no right to treat anything in creation as ownerless, meaningless or purposeless. I cannot see the bird as having no owner by declaring it a “natural being” not created by a conscious Creator deliberately, hence stealing His property and reducing it to a meaningless being. In fact, this is an insult to its Creator as well as to the bird itself as to be a meaningless, idle being. When I pick a fruit from the tree, I must seek permission from the Owner of the tree. We need to be careful not to think that the person who put the seed in the earth is the creator and therefore owner of the tree and the fruits, rather the Creator of the earth and the atmosphere and the seasons and the tree and the fruits is the owner. The person who is given the permission to use the tree and the fruit is expected to acknowledge the Creator and use it in His name and be thankful to Him for letting him to benefit from him just because he put the already created seed in the soil and watered it with the already created water. Human beings are allowed to use the things in their Owner’s name and permission. This was exemplified in the story of Adam who was given permission for all trees except one tree. This is related in the Qur’an to teach me that I am not given permission to drink alcohol or eat pork but can use them for other purposes but use everything else by acknowledging their Creator. In the Qur’an, God says that I have created vegetables and fruits for your nourishment; animals as well so that you may utilize them. I cannot pick a fruit and treat it as if I created it and I can use it as I want just because I paid money to the farmer or throw it away as being useless. I am not given permission to be wasteful. Someone may understand that they are created by God to be His calif and can do whatever they want in this word and treat the beings as they wish. However, I am here to acknowledge God’s ownership of the universe, seeking His permission when utilizing His creation.
The phrase “وَلَا يَزْنُونَ” is translated as “not commit adultery”. This may be understood as raping of women or sometimes man without their consent or permission. Tying it to the earlier aspect of “sacredness”, everyone is created as “God’s property” and is sacred. A human being too is sacred. They are given senses for their different needs. For the satisfaction of their sexual needs, they are given permission if and only if one opens their sacred body to another person with God’s permission by making a contract. The contract arrangement would allow permission to carry the baby and the responsibility of taking care of the baby. The husband must provide for the physical and psychological needs of the wife who must also provide the psychological needs of the husband. This is the arrangement from God which allows one to share their individual being with the opposite gender. Anything apart from God’s arrangement in their intimate relationship is called “zina” “committing adultery” in the language of the Qur’an because they are using their bodies which are created and owned by their Creator without His permission.
Apart from this human relationship, we can extend the meaning of how to deal with the sacredness of every being. I must have the permission from God with the consent of the being. If I transgress the rights of other beings without their permission, that can also constitute a form of “adultery”. If someone transgresses the rights of animals or plants, it is also a form of adultery. We must be careful not to transgress the rights of other creatures.
The verse is asking us:
- Not to invoke any physical or imaginary being beside God.
- Never transgress the right of any being which is declared “sacred” using the word “حَرَّمَ”. We cannot remove their sacred status that is on them, I must use it in His name and with His permission. If I acknowledge God, then I must respect His property. The word “حرم” is commonly used in other languages. The “Kaaba” which represents the created universe is also called “حرم”, as being sacred; that means the universe is also “حرم” if it is used without acknowledging its Creator and thus without getting His permission. Human life as to be the most precious creature is also sacred.
- The body of man or a woman is called “مَحْرَم”, made sacred, belonging to the person who is responsible to protect it from being used without the permission of its Creator. No one has the right to claim that the body is mine and I can use it as I want. If one enters a marriage contract with the permission of their Lord, then the opposite gender is no longer “مَحْرَم” for them. If someone lets someone else get into their private life, they commit adultery “zina”, without permission from God, i.e. without a contract in the name of God. My body has been made sacred by God, and I cannot open it to anyone without my Owner’s permission which can only be through a marriage contract.
In Islamic jurisprudence committing adultery is equal to killing a person. If someone commits adultery (zina), most Muslim scholars were convinced that this person must be killed, i.e. being stoned. There is an event in the life of the prophet where a man came to him (pbuh) asking to be stoned for he had committed adultery. The prophet (pbuh) turned his face the other way. This indicated that he preferred the person go away and repent to God if it was something done privately without any witness. If the action of adultery is public, i.e. seen by 4 people then it is publicly performed and must be dealt with accordingly for the benefit of the society. If it was done privately then the prophet encouraged not to confess but ask for God’s forgiveness.
In Islamic jurisprudence, the killing of a person is dealt with “qisas”, retaliation. In the case of committing adultery, the punishment was stoning to death. However, this rule is not in the Qur’an but practiced by the Prophet because he used to practice the previous Revelation which is the Torah until God sends him the verse which confirms it or replaces it with a new ruling. The Torah ruling was not confirmed in the Qur’an where lashing was introduced as the punishment for adultery and a new ruling has not come. After the death of the Prophet, only some leaders practiced it. Lashing remained a disputed matter among the scholars.
When the Qur’an does not provide its own ruling, the Prophet practiced some of the rulings from the Torah when it is appropriate to the rulings of the Qur’an. For example, before the Revelation mentioned prostrate towards “Kaaba” as the “Qibla”, the Prophet (pbuh) used to prostrate towards “Al-Aqsa”. This was based on the original rulings of Torah because the prayer was ordained in the Qur’an but without specifying the direction during the prayer. The prophet (pbuh) was following the Jewish rule when there was no specific rule declared in the Qur’an regarding that matter. He had to turn a direction during the prayer but it was not specified. In such cases the Prophet used to follow the Torah rulings as default.
Another example, the prophet was fasting the 10 days of Dhul-Hajj that was based on the Jewish tradition. When the verse on Ramadan was revealed, the prophet (pbuh) practiced fasting during that month. The 10 days of fasting for Dhul-Hajj are still good to do (sunnah), but the fasting of Ramadan became necessary and significant to Islam.
There is no revelation in the Qur’an about stoning. The prophet (pbuh) during his time practiced stoning, not as severe as the Jewish tradition. This was only for those who performed acts publicly or those who self-confessed to committing adultery. Why would someone self-confess? The people were so concerned about the severity of the punishment of the Hereafter that they would prefer to have the punishment here in this world. They were strong believers in the Hereafter that they preferred stoning in this world rather than the punishment of the Hereafter. There was a case where a woman came confessing that she had committed adultery. The prophet (pbuh) told her to go and give birth to the child. She came back after giving birth to the child and the prophet was surprised and told her to take care of the child as they needed a mother for some time. She came back again afterwards, and the prophet (pbuh) was concerned about what to do. There was no rule in the Qur’an. She consented to stoning according to the rule of Torah.
In another situation the prophet (pbuh) had to ask a Jewish tribe, when some people broke the peace and mutual support treaty and helped the enemy from within, whether they would like the rule of Torah or the rule of the Qur’an to be applied to them. There was a treaty between the Medina administration and the neighboring Jewish tribes. Those involved mentioned that they belonged to the Jewish faith and would like the Torah rules applied to them. The prophet (pbuh) complied to their request accordingly and asked for the Torah scholar to pass judgement on them who decided that they be executed according to the Torah rule.
Torah rules were practiced by the prophet until there came something via Revelation of the Qur’an to address those rulings. Every prophet is a brother to each other and prophet Muhammad (pbuh) being a brother to prophet Moses respects Torah rules. All the prophets received the Revelation from the same Lord.
During the prophet’s (pbuh) time, the rule on killing someone unjustly with retribution came. The prohibition of intoxicants, the turning to “Kaaba” while praying, fasting the month of Ramadan were declared as rules and were established. As the rules came in the Qur’an they would abolish the previous Torah rules. It is important to realize that the prophet (pbuh) died and the ruling on stoning was not declared by God. The prophet (pbuh) was practicing Torah rules during his lifetime but nothing about this was revealed in the Qur’an. What would that indicate? It is not God’s command to stone someone. There is no rule in the Qur’an regarding adultery in the whole complete Qur’an. When the Qur’an was not completed, the prophet would apply the Torah rules as mentioned earlier. Once the Qur’an was completed, some of the Torah rules were abolished and there was no rule on committing adultery. This is missed by some scholars of jurisprudence where stoning must not be applied as God did not give any ruling on it in the Qur’an.