Al Mu’minūn

إِنَّهُ كَانَ فَرِيقٌ مِنْ عِبَادِي يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَآ ءَامَنَّا فَاغْفِرْ لَنَا وَارْحَمْنَا وَأَنتَ خَيْرُ الرَّاحِمِينَ

فَاتَّخَذْتُمُوهُمْ سِخْرِيّاً حَتَّي أَنسَوْكُمْ ذِكْرِي وَكُنتُم مِنْهُمْ تَضْحَكُونَ

109. “Verily there was a party among My servants who used to say: ‘Our Lord! We believe, therefore forgive us and have mercy on us for You are the Best of the mercifulness;”
110. “But you took them with ridicule, until they made you forget My remembrance and you were laughing at them!”

Faith is the beginning of forgiveness, and forgiveness is the beginning of Allah’s mercy. The servants of Allah are always concerned about their shortcomings and ask for Divine pardon. The verse says:

“Verily there was a party among My servants who used to say: ‘Our Lord! We believe, therefore forgive us and have mercy on us for You are the Best of the mercifulness;”

In the next verse, Allah says:

“But you took them with ridicule, until they made you forget My remembrance and you were laughing at them!”

In other words, you used to laugh at them and scorn them and their words, beliefs and behaviour. Meanwhile it should be noted that there is a great difference between the Arabic words ‘sukhriyan’ (to take for a mockery) and ‘sikhriyan’ (to, put others under subjection andservice). If the relations between members of society were based on sympathy, cooperation and mutual assistance, and they benefited from each other’s skills, arts and labour, then society would develop, become stronger and most of its problems would be solved.

This concept is stated in the verse saying:

“...that some of them may take labour from others...” ³²

But if social relations are mainly based upon humiliation, disenfranchisement, discrimination and hopelessness, such a society will forget Allah (s.w.t.) and decline. The verse under discussion indicates this concept by saying:

"But you took them with ridicule...”

Footnotes

1. 32. Sura Az-Zukhruf, No. 43, verse 32