Overview (Verses 116 - 118)

Unbelief Is All One
 
The sūrah then discusses certain distorted concepts of Godhead held by Jews and Christians. It highlights the contrast between those and the beliefs held by the pagan Arabs, emphasizing the striking similarities, before it corrects those erroneous concepts and presents the true unitarian belief of Islam. “They say, ‘God has taken to Himself a son.’ Limitless is He in His glory! His is all that is in the heavens and on earth; all things are obedient to Him. He is the Originator of the heavens and the earth. When He wills something to be, He need only say, Be, and it is. Those devoid of knowledge say, ‘Why does not God speak to us, nor is a sign shown to us?’ The same demands were made by people before them: their hearts are all alike. We have made the signs very clear for those with firm conviction.” (Verses 116-118)
 
Indeed, the totally misguided notion of “God the Father” was not restricted to the Christians who take Jesus to be the son of God; for some Jews also believed that Ezra was a son of God, while the Arab idolaters believed that the angels were God’s daughters. The sūrah condemns these three groups, all fiercely antagonistic towards Islam in Arabia at the time, without going into details of their beliefs.
 
It is interesting to note here that those groups compare very closely with the three groups that are opposed to Islam today, as represented by world Zionism, the crusading Churches and international Communism, the last being even more hostile to Islam than the Arab idolaters ever were.
 
By grouping all three camps together, the Qur’ān equates the absurd Jewish and Christian beliefs with those of idolatry, and it implicitly refutes their claims to exclusive righteousness and salvation by putting forward the correct version of unitarian belief: “Limitless is He in His Glory. His is all that is in the heavens and on earth; all things are obedient to Him. He is the Originator of the heavens and the earth. When He wills something to be, He need only say, ‘Be’, and it is.” (Verses 116-117)
 
Here we come to the pure and clear Islamic concept of the nature of God and His relationship with His creation, and how creatures come into being. This is the clearest and noblest understanding of all these facts.
 
The universe was created directly by God through an act of His free, absolute and omnipotent will, expressed in the simple word “Be”. The mere intention of God to create anything would bring it instantaneously into existence in the form chosen for it, without the need for intermediaries of any kind. As to how this actually happens, this remains one of life’s most profound mysteries. In fact, the human mind is not equipped to fathom the secret of life. Such understanding is not necessary for the fulfilment of man’s role, which is to build human life on earth.
 
God has given man numerous skills, talents and resources that have enabled him to discover and unravel a great many of the natural laws that govern the world around him. But, much as man has been able to learn about the world and exploit that knowledge for his own progress and advancement, other aspects have been kept away from him, as these have no impact on man’s role on earth.
 
Philosophers and thinkers throughout human existence have attempted to unravel the secrets of creation, and a number of theories of life and the universe have been advanced, including some absurd and ridiculous notions. Man’s failure in this area has been due to the fact that human science and philosophy have ventured into a realm of thought for which man does not possess the necessary intellectual and analytical tools. They have merely been groping in the dark, adrift in uncharted waters.
 
Some Muslim thinkers and philosophers have also been lured into this controversial and complicated area of human thinking but failed to come up with any satisfactory conclusions. When some of them sought help in Greek philosophy, itself none the wiser, they were thrown into even deeper confusion. This has inevitably and surreptitiously found its way into Islamic thought but only as an alien body.
 
The Islamic view draws a distinct line between Creator and creation. The Creator is unique and matchless, which leaves no room in Islamic thought for the idea of “the unity of creation” or pantheism. Non- Muslim philosophy relies on this idea to indicate that creation and the Creator are one and the same; that creation is a mere reflection of the Creator and the physical manifestation of its Maker. A Muslim views existence as a unity in a different sense: it is created by one will, follows the same laws of nature, demonstrates absolute harmony and submits humbly to its Lord:
 
“His is all that is in the heavens and on earth; all things are obedient to Him.” (Verse 116) This plain concept eliminates the need for the Creator to have offspring or have them ascribed to Him, since “He is the Originator of the heavens and the earth. When He wills something to be, He need only say, ‘Be’, and it is.” (Verse 117) How this divine will operates cannot be known because it is beyond man’s capacity to comprehend, and it would be futile for him to try or pretend to know.
 
Following this brief discussion, the sūrah cites another statement it attributes to the idolaters of Arabia, again having a strange resemblance to what the Jews and the Christians were saying: “Those devoid of knowledge say, ‘Why does not God speak to us, nor is a sign shown to us?’ The same demands were made by people before them: their hearts are all alike. We have made the signs very clear for those with firm conviction.” (Verse 118)
 
The pagan Arabs had often challenged the Prophet Muĥammad to come up with some miraculous proof or an extraordinary act to convince them of Islam. The sūrah makes the point that Jews and Christians who lived before them had asked the same of their prophets. A case in mind is that when the Israelites asked Moses that they should be allowed to see God in person. All three groups seem to share the same attitudes, concepts and inclinations, and therefore belong together.
 
God emphasizes that He has “made the signs very clear for those with firm conviction.” Conviction, or certainty of faith, is a function of the heart and not a reaction to astounding or spectacular demonstrations. With faith, man is capable of appreciating signs and miracles, and understanding their meaning and purpose, and drawing the necessary lessons and reassurance from them.