Al Shu‘arā’

كَذَلِكَ سَلَكْنَاهُ فِي قُلُوبِ الْمُجْرِمِينَ

لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِهِ حَتَّى يَرَوُا الْعَذَابَ الأَلِيمَ

فَيَأْتِيَهُم بَغْتَةً وَهُمْ لاَ يَشْعُرُونَ

200. “Thus We caused it passing into the hearts of the sinners,”
201. “(But) they will not believe in it until they see the painful punishment.”
202. “And it shall come upon them all of a sudden, while they are not aware.”

Allah completes the argument even with the pagans and exposes it to them and causes it to pass into their hearts, but if there is not any receptivity even the Qur’an is not effective. Therefore, in this verse He says:

Allah sent the Qur’an down with clear statements and in the language of their own people unto a man from among them who was acquainted with their customs, and its content had been confirmed by the former Divine Books. In short, He sent it with all the conditions which made the acceptance of it easy for them in the hearts of those sinful people, but these diseased hearts denied accepting it. It is like the sound nutritious food that a sick stomach does not receive and rejects it.

The verse says:

The Arabic phrase /salaknahu/ is derived from the word /suluk/ which means ‘passing a way’, coming from one side and going out from another side. Yes, they do not believe in it until the Divine punishment suddenly overtakes them while they do not perceive. The verse says:

No doubt, the purpose of this Divine punishment which suddenly seizes them is the worldly chastisement and the destructive affliction which is called ‘’istisal’, (the Divine punishment for the unchangeable sinners). By the way, the ugly and beautiful rites and traditions, and in other words, racial bigotries work as a curtain of egotism and ignorance which covers the man’s thought, apprehension and wisdom and bars that the correct judgment works.

This state of bigotry has a harsher form among some tribes, for example, a group of Arabs were known as zealous people, and they are referred to in the abovementioned verses. The Arabic fanaticism of the Age of Ignorance was so vast that if the Qur’an were sent down to non-Arabs the Arabs would never believe in it. A tradition narrated from Imam Sadiq (as), recorded in the Commentary by Ali-ibn-’Ibrahim, concerning this verse, says:

“Had the Qur’an been sent down to any non-Arab, Arabs would not have believed, but the Qur’an was sent down to Arabs, and non-Arabs believed in it, and this is an excellence for non-Arabs.” ¹¹

A Few Traditions Upon Bigotry

1. A tradition narrated from the holy Prophet (S) indicates that he said:

“Whoever has bigotry as much as a mustard seed in his heart, Allah will muster him with the Arabs of the Age of Ignorance on the Hereafter Day.” ¹²

2. In another tradition Imam Sadiq (as) says:

“He who has got fanaticism, or fanaticism is made for him, has removed the collar of faith from his neck.” ¹³

Hadrat Ali (as) has delivered a comprehensive and strict discussion in Qasi‘ah sermon upon fanaticism a part of which is as follows:

“As for ’Iblis, he felt proud over Adam because of his origin and taunted at him about his creation, since he said:

‘I am of fire while you are of clay’.”

Then he (as) adds:

“In case you cannot avoid fanaticism, your fanaticism should be for good qualities, praiseworthy acts, and admirable matters…” ¹⁴

Confirming this statement of Ali (as), once Ali-ibn-il-Hussayn (as) was asked about bigotry and he, in a tradition, said:

“The bigotry by which a person sins is that he considers the vicious ones of his tribe better than the good ones of other tribe, and it is not bigotry that he loves the people of his tribe; but bigotry is that he assists his tribe in injustice.” ¹⁵

Another meaning of bigotry, which is seen in the verses of the Qur’an and Islamic narrations, is /hamiyyat/ ‘zealotry’ or /hamiyyat-ij-Jahilliyah/, (i.e., the zealotry of (the days of) ignorance). Though there are many words delivered in this field, we suffice to only two traditions here. Amir-ul-Mu’minin Ali (as) once said:

“Verily Allah will punish six groups for six qualities: Arabs for fanaticism, stewards (the owners of lands and wealth) for pride, the guardians of the affairs for cruelty, the jurisprudents for jealousy, the merchants for treachery, and the villagers for gnorance.” ¹⁶

The Messenger of Allah (S) every day used to seek protection of Allah from six things: skepticism, paganism, zealotry, wrath, inequity, and jealousy.¹⁷