In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

“Enter this city,’ We said, ‘and eat where you will to your heart’s content. Make your way reverently through the gates saying: “Forgive us.” We shall forgive you your sins and bestow abundance on the righteous.’ But the wrongdoers perverted our words and we let loose on them a scourge from heaven as a punishment for their misdeeds. When Moses prayed for water for his people, We said to him: ‘Strike the rock with your staff.’ Thereupon twelve springs gushed from it, and each tribe knew their drinking-place. We said: ‘Eat and drink of that which God has provided and do not corrupt the land with evil.’ ‘Moses,’ you said, ‘we will no longer put up with this monotonous diet. Call on your Lord to give us some of varied produce of the earth, green herbs and cucumbers, wheat and lentils and onions.’ ‘What?’ he answered, ‘Would you exchange that which is good for that which is worse? Go back to one of the cities. There you shall find all that you have asked for.’ Shame and misery were stamped upon them and they incurred the wrath of God; because they disbelieved His signs and slayed His Prophets unjustly; because they were rebels and transgressors.” (Quran, 2:58-61)

God bestowed special blessings upon the Jewish people. They should have shown their gratitude by remaining obedient to Him, but they did quite the opposite. They were given possession of a great city and told to enter it—not in a vainglorious manner—but in humility and repentance; but instead they started rejoicing in their victory. Divine provision was given to them in the form of manna and quails so that, free from the struggle for a livelihood, they would be able to devote themselves entirely to carrying out God’s commandments; but they took to demanding spicey, cooked foods instead. Beyond the basic necessities of life, they sought to indulge in worldly luxury. So insensitive did they become that even clear signs of God could not melt their hearts. They opposed and even killed those servants of God who rose to admonish them. The reason for the Jews’ heedlessness was that they thought salvation was their national right, whereas God will not judge anyone on an ethnic or hereditary basis. Jews will be judged according to the same divine law as Gentiles. Heaven is for those who prove themselves worthy of it by their actions; it is not the monopoly of any clan or community. Man’s harmony with nature comes from his leading a life of thanksgiving, humility and continence; by remaining steadfast in the face of adversity. Ingratitude, hot-headedness, pride and greed spread only evil in the land, and are a deviation from the natural order established by God.

Believers, Jews, Christians and Sabeans—whoever believes in God and the Last Day and does what is right—shall be rewarded by their Lord; they shall have nothing to fear or to regret. (Quran, 2:62)

Four communities are mentioned in this verse: Muslims, who are followers of the Prophet Mohammad; who follow the Prophet Moses; Christians, who maintain their allegiance to the Prophet Jesus; and Sabeans, who claim to adhere to the teachings of John the Baptist, the Prophet Yahaya. The last-mentioned sect resided in Iraq in ancient times, but is now extinct. They were people of book, and offered their prayers facing the Kaaba in Makkah.

Here the Muslims have not been mentioned separately, but alongside other communities associated with prophets. This means that as ethnic groups all are equal in the sight of God, no community is inherently superior to any other. Only true belief and righteous actions can earn a person salvation. This is a rule that applies consistently to every community. No one, whether he calls himself Muslim, Jew, Christian or Sabean, is exempt from this rule. There is no special status with God on the basis of belonging to a particular community. The only ones whom God elevates to a high rank are those who have sought to mould their own lives according to the scheme of God.

The lives of those who associate with a prophet during his lifetime are always based on true belief and righteous actions. At that time certain people hear the Prophet’s call. Their spirits are moved by message. An intellectual revolution takes place within them, filling them with new resolve. Their whole pattern of life changes. Whereas previously they had been guided by personal desires, they now base their lives on the teachings of God. These are the ones who can truly call themselves followers of the prophets, and these are the ones to whom the prophets give good tidings of eternal blessings in the next world.

The situation changes, however, as time goes on. For the generations that follow, religion becomes a kind of national heritage. Tidings which had been given on the basis of faith and righteous actions come to be considered the result of ethnic affiliations. People reckon that they have a special relationship with God that others do not enjoy: one who belongs to a particular community is sure to be saved, notwithstanding the standard of his faith and deeds; paradise is for “us,” hell for “them.”

But God does not have a special relationship with any particular community. He has regard solely for man’s thoughts and deeds. In his presence people will be judged according to the manner in which they themselves have acted, and not on the basis of the group of which they belonged.

And when We made a covenant with you, and raised the Mount above you, saying: ‘Hold on to that which We have given you firmly and bear in mind its precepts, that you may guard yourselves against evil.’ Yet after that you turned away, and but for God’s grace and mercy you would have surely been among the lost. You have surely heard of those of you who violated the Sabbath. We said to them: ‘You shall be changed into detested apes.’ We made them an example to their own generation and to those who followed them, and a lesson to the God fearing. (Quran, 2:63-66)

A covenant was made with Moses’ people that they would faithfully carry out the Ten Commandments. The Talmud tells how, at this time, God turned the Mount upside down on top of them and told them either to accept the teachings of the Torah, or be destroyed there and then. The same is the case with everyone who embraces true faith. To have faith is to make a contract with God that one will live and die in accordance with His will. What a grave contract this is. On the one hand there is man—a tiny, helpless speck in God’s world—and on the other, God, whose might upholds the universe. If man fulfills his contract he will be granted God’s eternal blessings. But if he turns away from the contract he has made, he is in grave danger of being cast into hell-fire, never to emerge again.

Everyone who believes in God should go through the same experience as Moses’ people. Everyone who ties himself to the contract of faith should live in trepidation of breaking his contract, and bringing catastrophe down on himself as a result.

Sometimes those entrusted with the law of God go astray by contradicting it in practice, while finding words to prove that they are following it to the letter. The Jews, for instance, were commanded to keep holy the Sabbath day, and refrain from worldly pursuits on that day. But they violated it and went about their work on the Sabbath as on any other day. Furthermore, they sought to justify their actions and make out that what they were doing conformed to the will of God. This audacity incurred God’s displeasure and they were turned into apes. Whenever one turns against the law of God one is putting oneself on a par with animals who follow no code of ethics. Those who play games with divine law, then should fear being deprived of their human dignity, and being debased to the level of animals as was the case with Jews.

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