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wa-mā lakum lā tuʾminūna bi-llāhi wa-r-rasūlu yadʿūkum li-tuʾminū bi-rabbikum wa-qad ʾakhadha mīthāqakum ʾin kuntum muʾminīna
Why should you not have faith in Allah when the Apostle invites you to have faith in your Lord, and He has certainly made a covenant with you, if you are [genuinely] faithful?
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah al-Hadid - Verse 8
8. And what is the matter with you that you believe not in Allah! While the Messenger invites you to believe in your Lord and He has indeed taken your covenant through intellect, natural innate disposition, and the Prophets, if you truly believe.
Following a reference to having faith and expending in Allah's Cause, the blessed Verse further treats of the same in the form of an argument. First, disbelievers are reproached for not having believed in the Noble Prophet's (S) Prophetic call by asking:
"What is the matter with you that you believe not in Allah! While the Messenger invites you to believe in your Lord and He has indeed taken your covenant through intellect, natural innate disposition, and the Prophets, if you truly believe."
If you truly believe in Truth, the arguments thereof are crystal clear as such belief is substantiated by intellect, innate natural disposition, and narration. On the one hand, Allah's Messenger (S) called you with clear proofs, sings, and manifest miracles and on the other hand, God Almighty has taken your covenant by reflecting His tokens in the world of creation and your inward being. Such covenant is formative. Believe in Him. But, you are indifferent toward intellect, the innate natural disposition, and Revelation. You fail to be prepared to believe since you are overwhelmed by ignorance, bias, and blind imitation.
The above reflects that:
"if you truly believe"
indicates that if you are prepared to believe in God Almighty and His Messenger, you must acknowledge the manifest arguments thereof. The point is that disbelievers saw the Noble Prophet (S), listened to his Prophetic call and witnessed his miracles, how could they produce any pretext? In this vein, it is narrated from the Noble Prophet (S) that he asked his companions:
"Whose belief is more wondrous?"
They replied:
"Angels."
Allah's Messenger (S) said:
"It is not a wonder that they believe, since they are near unto Divine Threshold."
They said:
"The Prophets'."
He asked:
"How may they fail to believe when they received Divine Revelation?"
They said:
"Ours."
He said:
"It is not a wonder if you believe since I am among you."
The companions were silent. The Noble Prophet (S) said:
"The most wondrous belief belongs to those who follow you and merely see some pages before them, but they believe in it, namely the Holy Qur’an." 13
It is a fact that people who see the light a long time after the Noble Prophet's (S) demise and are solely informed of Prophetic traditions, but they acknowledge the Prophetic call and thereby are accorded great privileges. The term covenant (mithaq) may be a reference to the innate natural disposition toward Divine Unity reflected through intellectual arguments and witnessing the system of creation. The phrase:
"in your Lord"
(bi-rabbikum) reflects Divine organicism in the world of creation. Some Qur’an exegetes maintain that "covenant" herein reflects that taken in the world of pre-existence (‘alam al-dharr). God Almighty knows better.
Footnotes