الآية رقم (8) - يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ كُونُواْ قَوَّامِينَ لِلّهِ شُهَدَاء بِالْقِسْطِ وَلاَ يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَآنُ قَوْمٍ عَلَى أَلاَّ تَعْدِلُواْ اعْدِلُواْ هُوَ أَقْرَبُ لِلتَّقْوَى وَاتَّقُواْ اللّهَ إِنَّ اللّهَ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ

(8) - (O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm for Allah, witnesses in justice, and do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is Acquainted with what you do.)

The divine commands and the duties of faith come based on a faith covenant, for Allah (swt) when He says: “O you who have believed” Then a faith mission will come; Because as long as you believe that He is the Creator and that the return to Him means Heaven or Hell, then you have to comply with the divine duties, but when Allah (swt) says: “O people,” after it, general issues for all human beings are mentioned.

In this verse there are two commands: To be persistently standing firm for Allah and witnesses in justice. Allah (swt) has demanded that man should work according to his ability and not according to his need, however, there is a difference between them; if he works according to his ability, he serves others, while if he works according to his need, he works just for himself. So working according to one’s ability makes room for others, there would be money to be paid as alms and expenditures that benefit people, and this confirms the meaning of the concept of divinely supportive movements.

( كُونُوا قَوَّامِينَ لِلَّهِ ) (…be persistently standing firm for Allah ): Just as when He (swt) prevents you from stealing from someone else’s money, He prevents others from stealing from you, and just as He (swt) prevents you from committing adultery, He prevents others from committing fornication with your relatives. Thus, it is a mutually supportive movement in society; when you comply with the commands of Allah (swt), when you give the poor, the needy and the orphans their rights. Hence, you are dealing with Allah (swt) and not with His creation, and that is like His saying (swt):

 مَّن ذَا الَّذِي يُقْرِضُ اللَّهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًا فَيُضَاعِفَهُ لَهُ أَضْعَافًا كَثِيرَةً ۚ وَاللَّهُ يَقْبِضُ وَيَبْسُطُ وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ

(Who is it that would loan Allah a goodly loan so He may multiply it for him many times over? And it is Allah who withholds and grants abundance, and to Him you will be returned.) (Al-Baqara: 245)

Actually, you do not loan Allah (swt), but when you give His creation, it is as if you loan Him, so you imagine that you loan a rich man equal to you in wealth, so how about Allah (swt) the Rich, whose treasuries are full and never run out? Dealing rises in society when people apply firmly Allah’s commands, same as all the good deeds that Islam commanded. From this point of view, we ask the following question: Does the benefit of these obligations of faith return to Allah (swt) or to His creation? Definitely to Allah’s creation; because He (swt) does not benefit from our prayers, our zakat, and our alms, so whoever removes harm from the road, it is written to him as charity, whoever smiles in the face of his brother is given charity, this is Islam, so how do they describe it as terrorism and violence?! We refute their lies by asking the following questions: Is Islam a religion of kindness or is it a religion of violence? Is it a religion of giving or a religion of coercion? Is it a religion of compulsion or a religion of choice? Is it a religion of love or is it a religion of hate? Is it a religion of mercy or is it a religion of misery? Clearly, heaven’s mercy could never be a means to people’s misery. Those who accuse Islam did not understand it because they did not read the Holy Qur’an, so how can they know the words of Allah (swt) and its interpretation? And if they had understood His words as they were revealed, they would not have accused Islam of extremism and violence.

( شُهَدَاءَ بِالْقِسْطِ ) (… witnesses in justice ): What is the connection between being persistently standing firm for Allah, and witnesses in justice? Indeed, you are in front of two matters: The first is to focus on reforming yourself, to be in line with the command of Allah (swt), and the second is to work on reforming others by your witnesses in justice, that is, by removing injustice. As such, when a Muslim is commanded to bear witness to justice on any matter in this worldly life and does not let the hatred of a people prevent him from being just, this reflect goodness on the whole society:

( وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَآنُ قَوْمٍ عَلَىٰ أَلَّا تَعْدِلُوا ) (…and do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just ): We remember the story of the Jew who was accused of stealing the shield of one of the Muslims in the Medina, so Allah (swt) revealed to the Prophet (saws):

  إِنَّا أَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ لِتَحْكُمَ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ بِمَا أَرَاكَ اللَّهُ ۚ وَلَا تَكُن لِّلْخَائِنِينَ خَصِيمًا

(Indeed, We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], the Book in truth so you may judge between the people by that which Allah has shown you. And do not be for the deceitful an advocate.) (An-Nisa: 105)

For this reason, justice was the master of the rulings and their foundation that the Prophet (saws) issued during his lifetime, and the caliphs (May Allah be pleased with them) after him, followed his method and his Sunnah. A good example of this is the story of a Coptic Christian who was in Egypt during the reign of Amr Ibn Al-Aas (May Allah be pleased with him) where the son of Amr Ibn Al-Aas competed with the Coptic man who won, but the son of Amr ibn Al-Aas started striking him with a whip saying: “I am the son of the dignified!” This man grieved and suffered greatly, and went out of Egypt to Medina to complain to Omar Ibn Al-Khattab what the governor’s son, Amr Ibn Al-‘As had done, overconfident his justice. Upon this, Omar Ibn al-Khatab wrote to Amr ordering him to travel to him with his son. He came with his son, after Omar investigated the matter, he gave the Egyptian the whip and told him to strike the son of Amr. The man started striking him while Omar was saying, “Strike the son of the illiterates!”. The man struck him, then Omar said to the Egyptian, “Direct it to Amr.” The Egyptian said, “O leader of the believers, it was only his son who struck me and I have settled the score.” Omar said: “He stroke you because of the authority of his father”.

( اعْدِلُوا هُوَ أَقْرَبُ لِلتَّقْوَىٰ ) (….Be just; that is nearer to righteousness ): The phrase of the Holy Qur’an here includes the two sides, for example, you had an opponent who did not believe in Allah (swt), while you believe in Him, and you witnessed the truth, accordingly his rights returned to him. As a result of your testimony, you became closer to piety, and he as well became closer to piety; Because he will say: How great is this Lord who reprimands His loved ones for His enemies, so that both sides got nearer to righteousness. This is the religion of Islam that achieves righteousness with justice and not by force and oppression, and people enter it by justice, mercy and giving. The examples in our Islamic history are very clear, yet some people return every crime on the surface of the earth to Islam, saying: The Muslim scholars, in their books, teach people how to hate, and teach them to ignore the others… Here is the Holy Qur’an, the book of Muslims, which is a source of legislation, telling them:

( وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَآنُ قَوْمٍ عَلَىٰ أَلَّا تَعْدِلُوا ۚ اعْدِلُوا هُوَ أَقْرَبُ لِلتَّقْوَىٰ ) (…and do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness. ): Allah (swt) says to His Prophet (saws) as well:

 فَذَكِّرْ إِنَّمَا أَنتَ مُذَكِّرٌ (21) لَّسْتَ عَلَيْهِم بِمُصَيْطِرٍ (22) إِلَّا مَن تَوَلَّىٰ وَكَفَرَ (23) فَيُعَذِّبُهُ اللَّهُ الْعَذَابَ الْأَكْبَرَ (24) إِنَّ إِلَيْنَا إِيَابَهُمْ (25) ثُمَّ إِنَّ عَلَيْنَا حِسَابَهُم

(So remind, [O Muhammad]; you are only a reminder. (22) You are not over them a controller. (23) However, he who turns away and disbelieves – (24) Then Allah will punish him with the greatest punishment. (25) Indeed, to Us is their return. (26) Then indeed, upon Us is their account.) (Al-Ghashiah: 21-26)

 So who gave these people the right to speak in the name of Islam while they are its enemies and enemies of the nation!! They colluded with the outside world and are trying to distort the image of Islam. Therefore, in our interpretation, in addition to all the rules of jurisprudence and the rules of the sciences of the Holy Qur’an, we set out to analyze instead of just indoctrination, following Allah’s saying:

 أَفَلَا يَتَدَبَّرُونَ الْقُرْآنَ أَمْ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبٍ أَقْفَالُهَا

(Then do they not reflect upon the Qur’an, or are there locks upon [their] hearts?) (Muhammad: 24)

Definitely, the Islam spread over a lot of the countries in the world through justice and morals, hence the Islamic call concentrates on the behaviors, the Prophet (saws) said:

“I was sent to perfect good behaviors”[1]

 Additionally, Allah (swt) describes His Prophet with the best virtue:

 وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلَىٰ خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍ

(And indeed, you are of a great moral character.) (Al-Qalam: 4)

 (  وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ ) (And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is Acquainted with what you do): The general command to the believers is to fear Allah, that is the piety, because it is the path to Paradise and it is the goods in all the aspects and Allah (swt) is Acquainted with what you do, whether in public or in secret.

[1] Sunan al-Bayhaqi al-Kubra: Book of Testimonies, Chapter of Good and Noble Behaviors, Hadith No. 20571.