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fa-taqaṭṭaʿū ʾamrahum baynahum zuburan kullu ḥizbin bi-mā ladayhim fariḥūna
But they fragmented their religion among themselves, each party boasting about what it had.
— Ali Quli Qarai
23Al-Mu’minūnالمؤمنونVerse 53 of 118
The Believers23. Al-Mu’minūnالمؤمنون
Al Mu’minūn
The Believers
MeccanVerse 53 of 118
Surah al-Mu’minun - Verse 53
53. “But people have cut off their affair (of unity) between them, into sects: each party rejoicing in that which is with them.”
Causing division is a great disaster which has a long history, therefore, following the invitation to unity and harmony in the former verse, mankind is now given a warning about conflict and disintegration with the phrase saying:
“But people have cut off their affair (of unity) between them, into sects...”
It is wonderful that ‘every one of these parties rejoices in that which is with itself and discriminates against the other. The verse continues saying:
“...each party rejoicing in that which is with them.”
The Arabic word /zubur/ is the plural form of the word /zubrah/, meaning a part of the hair on the back of an animal that can be gathered together and separated from the rest. This word has then been applied to everything that can be separated from something else. Thus, the sentence:
“But people have cut off their affair...”
refers to the division of nations into various groups. Some say that the word ‘zubur’ is probably a plural form of the word /zabur/, meaning book. Thus the verse can mean that each of them followed a heavenly book and denied the heavenly books of others while they had also originated from the same Divine Source. However, the sentence:
‘...each party rejoicing in that which is with them’
strengthens the first interpretation, for it speaks of various parties and their biases in favour of their own claims. At any rate, the above verse expresses an important social and psychic fact that the ignorant bias of groups that have chosen certain religious schools of thought results in them closing off their minds to any other expression of the Divine truth and blocking off the light of knowledge. This state which arises from egotism and narcissism is the greatest enemy to arriving at the impartial ultimate truth and reaching to the unity of peoples.
Contentment and complacency in one’s own tradition and the sense of alienation and hostility to other than that is often expressed when we hear something from a religion other than ours and we shut it out, dismiss it and run away, lest a truth apparently other than what we are used to, be disclosed to us. As the Holy Qur’an says about the polytheists of Noah’s age:
“And verily whenever I call unto them that you may pardon them, they thrust their fingers into their ears, cover themselves with their garments, and persist (in their refusal) and magnify themselves with pride.” 27
When this state of prejudice persists, man becomes closed to the path of truth and instead he becomes obstinate and headstrong in his own view.
Footnotes