Overview (Verse 98 -99)

An Appeal in the Interest of Truth

Having provided this clarification, the sūrah instructs the Prophet to address the people of earlier revelations denouncing their attitude towards the truth of the Islamic message. They know this truth full well, yet they try to turn people away from it. They disbelieve in God’s revelations although they bear witness to them and they are certain that these revelations are true: “Say: ’People of earlier revelations, why do you disbelieve in God’s revelations, when God Himself is witness to all that you do?’ Say: ’People of earlier revelations, why do you try to turn those who have come to believe away from the path of God, seeking to make it appear crooked, when you yourselves bear witness [to its being straight’? God is not unaware of what you do.’” (Verses 98-99)

Similar denunciations are made in this sūrah as in many others. It is a highly effective denunciation because it does not mince words about the matter in question. The attitude of the people of earlier revelations is truthfully described, and they are shown in their true colours, even though they try to appear as people who have faith when they are in reality unbelievers. They disbelieve in the Qur’ān, which is revealed by God. Anyone who disbelieves in any part of God’s book disbelieves in the whole of that book. Were they true believers in the part of God’s book which has been revealed to them, they would have believed in every messenger sent by God after their own messenger. The essence of Divine faith is the same. Anyone who knows it knows for certain that whatever is preached by subsequent messengers is also true. He is bound to accept the prophets’ call to surrender himself to God in the way they teach. This fact should shake those people and make them fear the consequences of insisting on their erring ways.

Those in the Muslim community who are deceived by the fact that those people adhere to a Divine book can no longer be so deceived. As they listen to God’s words declaring the truth about those people, branding them as total unbelievers, all their doubts are bound to disappear. God issues them with warnings which strike fear in their hearts: “God Himself is witness to all that you do ... God is not unaware of what you do.” It is a fearful warning because it makes man feel that God watches him and sees exactly what he does, which is, in reality, nothing but disbelief, deception and corruption. Moreover, God makes it clear that they are aware of the truth which they deny and away from which they try to turn people: “... You yourselves bear witness [to its being straight’.” It is absolutely clear, then, that they were aware of the truth which they rejected. They knowingly tried to turn people away from what they realised to be a straight path. What wickedness! Anyone who adopts such a practice is not worthy of trust, but rather of contempt and denunciation.

We need to reflect on God’s description of those people in the following terms: “... Why do you try to turn those who have come to believe away from the path of God, seeking to make it appear crooked?” (Verse 99) This is a statement of great significance. God’s path is straight, and every other way is crooked. When people are turned away from God’s path and believers are forcibly barred from following God’s constitution, nothing remains straight. Our standards become faulty and nothing remains on earth except crookedness which can never be set straight.

Corruption, thus, gains the upper hand. Human nature becomes corrupt as it deviates from the straight path, and life becomes corrupt as it follows a crooked line. All this corruption is the result of turning people away from the path of God. Such corruption manifests itself in different ways: erroneous concepts, deviant conscience, crooked morality, wicked behaviour, unfair transactions and injustice in all relations within human society. Either people follow the path of God which is straight and which leads to everything that is good, or they deviate from it in any direction, and this inevitably leads to crookedness, evil and corruption. In man’s life, there is no third alternative.