الآية رقم (285) - آمَنَ الرَّسُولُ بِمَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْهِ مِن رَّبِّهِ وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ كُلٌّ آمَنَ بِاللّهِ وَمَلآئِكَتِهِ وَكُتُبِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ لاَ نُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ أَحَدٍ مِّن رُّسُلِهِ وَقَالُواْ سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا غُفْرَانَكَ رَبَّنَا وَإِلَيْكَ الْمَصِيرُ

(285) - (The Messenger has believed in what was revealed to him from his Lord, and [so have] the believers. All of them have believed in Allah and His angels and His books and His messengers, [saying], "We make no distinction between any of His messengers." And they say, "We hear and we obey. [We seek] Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the [final] destination.")

These verses are the concluding verses of the Sura of (Al-Baqara).

“It’s narrated that while Gabriel was sitting with the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), he heard a sound above him. He lifted his head, and said: “This is a gate which has been opened in heaven today. It was never opened before.” Then an angel descended through it, he said: “This is an angel who has come down to earth. He never came down before.” He sent greetings and said: “Rejoice with two lights given to you. Such lights were not given to any Prophet before you. These (lights) are: Fatihah-til-Kitab (Al-Fatihah), and the concluding verses of Al-Baqara. You will never recite a word from them without being given the blessings it contains[1].”

We all know and must know them by heart.

( آمَنَ الرَّسُولُ بِمَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْهِ مِن رَّبِّهِ وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ ) (The Messenger has believed in what was revealed to him from his Lord, and [so have] the believers ): Prophet Muhammad (saws) used to say (ash-hadu anni rasulu-llah – I believe that I’m the messenger of Allah) in all incidents that took place. Thus, the Prophet first believes (in what was revealed to him from his Lord, and [so have] the believers.)  and so do the believers following the Prophet. Wahhabis deny the visit of the tomb of Prophet Muhammad (saws) arguing that the Kaaba is (the House of Allah). Anyhow, our counter argument says: ‘we never come to know Allah (swt) but through the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad (saws). Our love to the Prophet is limitless, and through him we come to believe and know the House of Allah (Kaaba) only through the Prophet (saws). This verse is a proof of that.

( كُلٌّ آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَمَلَائِكَتِهِ وَكُتُبِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ ) (…All of them have believed in Allah and His angels and His books and His messengers ): The elements of faith are all unseen, and all of them (the messenger and the believers) have believed; in what? In Allah (swt) and his angels, books, and messengers. Someone may inquire here: aren’t the books and messengers seen while the Quran is unseen? The Quran is unseen at the time when it was revealed but seen as a book before me. A messenger of Allah is unseen to me but he was seen to the people who were at his time. Those people came to know that such person was the messenger when he told them that Allah (swt) had tasked him through Gabriel.

( لَا نُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ أَحَدٍ مِّن رُّسُلِهِ ) (…We make no distinction between any of His messengers ): This is the slogan in Islam. We never make a distinction between the messengers in terms of belief. We believe in all prophets, books and messengers mentioned in the Holy Quran. We honor the symbols of Allah (swt) as well as His messengers (PBUT). We believe in them all, in Jesus, Moses, Abraham, etc. We believe in all religions and books revealed by the Almighty. In all, we never make distinction between faiths. All faiths are one, but the legislations are different. Faiths are revealed by one God:

{ شرَعَ لَكُم مِّنَ الدِّينِ مَا وَصَّىٰ بِهِ نُوحًا وَالَّذِي أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْكَ وَمَا وَصَّيْنَا بِهِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَمُوسَىٰ وَعِيسَىٰ ۖ أَنْ أَقِيمُوا الدِّينَ وَلَا تَتَفَرَّقُوا فِيهِ}

(He has ordained for you of religion what He enjoined upon Noah and that which We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], and what We enjoined upon Abraham and Moses and Jesus – to establish the religion and not be divided therein.) (Ash-Shura: 13)

Religion never leads to division. Contrarily, it leads to solidarity of the society. The faith in Islam is based upon: (We make no distinction between any of His messengers ). However, someone may argue that there are verses that make distinction:

{ وَلَقَدْ فَضَّلْنَا بَعْضَ النَّبِيِّينَ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ}

(And We have made some of the prophets exceed others [in various ways.) (Al-Israa: 55)

Such distinction is either in terms of miracles or that the message of the messenger is for all humanity such as the message of Prophet Muhammad (saws).

( وَقَالُوا سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا ) (…And they say, “We hear and we obey ): The believers say we hear and obey, whereas the Jews say:

{ قَالُوا سَمِعْنَا وَعَصَيْنَا}

(We hear and disobey.) (Al-Baqara: 93)

It’s not enough, then, to hear and believe; you must also obey.

( غُفْرَانَكَ رَبَّنَا ) (…Your forgiveness, our Lord ): Why do we ask for forgiveness if we hear and obey? It’s because you won’t fulfill all the rights to Allah (swt) even if you spend your life hearing, obeying and kneeling for Him. You still need His forgiveness. And you ask for forgiveness when you disobey. Likewise, you must ask for it when you obey.

( وَإِلَيْكَ الْمَصِيرُ ) (…and to You is the [final] destination”): You’re, my Lord, our final destination.

[1] Hadith no. 2052, P. 745, Vol 1, Al-Mustadrak Ala Asahihayn