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lam yakuni lladhīna kafarū min ʾahli l-kitābi wa-l-mushrikīna munfakkīna ḥattā taʾtiyahumu l-bayyinatu
The faithless from among the People of the Book and the polytheists were not set apart [from the community of the faithful] until the proof had come to them:
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Bayyinah, Verses 1-5
In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful
1. “Those who reject (Truth) from among the People of the Book and the polytheists were not going to depart (from their ways) until there should come to them Clear Evidence,"
2. “A Messenger from Allah, reciting pure scriptures;"
3. “Wherein are laws right and straight.”
4. “Nor were those divided who were given the Book, except after the Clear Evidence had come to them.”
5. “And they were ordered no more than that they should worship Allah (alone) being sincere to Him in obedience, upright, to keep up prayer, and pay zakat (poor-rate) and that is the religion right and straight.”
The Religion Right and Straight
At the beginning of the Surah the situation before Islam, the People of the Book and the pagan Arabs, is referred to. It says:
Yes, they said that they were convinced of the coming of the Prophet of Islam (S), but later when his heavenly Book was revealed the circumstances changed and they differed in their ideas about the religion of Allah. It says:
Thus, the aforementioned verses reveal that the claim of the People of the Book and the disbelievers was that they insisted on a prophet having clear evidences to accept. But, when the clear evidence, Islam, and the awaited prophet, in the person of Muhammad (S) arrived, they rejected the religion of Islam and resisted the Prophet except for a minority of them. The preceding verse is similar to the content of Surah Baqarah, No. 2 Verse 89 which says:
We know that the People of the Book expected such an Advent and too, the Pagan Arabs, who knowing the People of the Book to be more learned than themselves, customarily followed the same idea and adopted it as their own, but after reaching their goals they changed the way and joined the opponents. A group of commentators have another idea on the contents of these verses. They say that the objective meaning is that the mentioned people, not simply by mere claim, but, in actuality, did not leave their old belief until they had clear evidences.
This statement means that after having such clear evidences they accepted the Prophet, but this contrasts with the following verses which indicate that they did not. Or, it may be said that the objective meaning is that some of them believed, though they were in the minority. But, this idea seems improbable and perhaps it was for the same reason that Fakhr-i-Razi in his commentary considered the first verse which to him is in contrast with the next verse, one of the most complicated verses of the Qur'an and then, in order to solve the problem he gave some explanations the best of which is the very one that we have mentioned above.
A third commentary exists which says that the objective meaning is that Allah does not leave the People of the Book and disbelievers to themselves unless He completes the argument; sends them an evidence, and shows them the straight way. For this reason He sent the Messenger of Islam to guide them. In fact, this verse is a reference to 'the principle of favor' which is discussed in 'speculative theology' and states that Allah sends clear evidences for every sect to complete the argument.
In any case, the meaning of /bayyinah/, here is 'Clear Evidence' and whose example, according to the second verse, is the Messenger of Allah (S), himself, who had at his disposal the Holy Qur'an for his teachings. The term /suhuf/ is a plural form of /sahifah/ which means 'a leaf or page of a book', or 'some leaves of paper on which something is written' and here it means 'the contents of them', because we know that the holy Prophet (S) could not read anything from the pages and therefore, was teaching the 'contents' of them.
And the purpose of using the term /mutahharah/ is that it was exactly the very truth, the original Word of Allah, in its purity, without corruption having polluted it, and far from the evil hands of Jinn and the human race; as is mentioned in Surah Fussilat, No. 41, verse 42:
Now, Verse 3
refers to the fact that, in these scriptures, there are, without doubt, decrees contained therein that are right and straight. Therefore, /kutub/, here means 'what is written', or it means 'the laws or decrees appointed by Allah', because / kitabat/, in Arabic, has been used in the sense of 'prescribing a decree' as in Surah Baqarah, No. 2, verse 183:
Then, the term /qayyimah/ means 'smooth, straight, right, strong, confirmed, valuable, worthy' or all these meanings collectively. It is also probable that since the Qur'an contains all that the former scriptures had, besides many other additional points, then, it is said that therein are the right ordinances of the past. It is worthy to note that in the first verse 'the People of the Book' is mentioned prior to 'the polytheists' but, in the fourth verse only 'the People of the Book' is mentioned and while 'polytheists' is not stated, the verse refers to both of them.
Apparently, these differences may be for that, in this matter, the People of the Book were the main rejectors and the polytheists were their dependants; or for that the People of the Book deserved more blame, because they had many men of knowledge among them and had a higher standard of theology than the polytheists therefore, their rejection was more disgraceful and blameworthy. Then, the Qur'an reproaches 'the People of the Book' and the polytheists saying:
On the phrase
some have cited that the purpose of using this phrase is that the People of the Book already had the three eternal principles in their own religion: Unity of God, prayer, and alms. These are some fixed principles, but those people were not true to their promise concerning these principles. Furthermore, the same decrees, in Islam, are, also, pure monotheism, prayer and alms which are the same eternal principles. So, why did they refuse to accept them?
Using this phrase, then, seems more suitable, because, /umiru/ ‘ordered', refers to the acceptance of the new religion, that which was mentioned in the preceding verse, over which 'they divided'. Some of the commentators believe that using the word /din/ ‘religion', here means 'worship' and the phrase 'no more than that they should worship Allah (alone)’, confirms this idea. The term /hunafa/ is the plural form of /hanif /derived from /hanaf/ ‘pure in faith' and as Raqib cites in Mufradat it means 'to decline from aberration to the straight way'. All those who make pilgrimage to Kaaba or were circumcised were called /hanif/, by the Arabs, referring to the fact that they had believed in Abraham's religion.
On the whole, this word in lexicology and in various dictionaries originally means 'crookedness or inclination', but, in the Qur'an and Islamic traditions it has been used with the sense of 'declining from polytheism and inclining toward monotheism and the straight way'. The phrase 'the religion right and straight' denotes that those principles, i.e., pure montheism, prayers and alms, are eternal and unchangeable in all religions, or it can be said that they are found within the nature of all human beings.
So, the destiny of Man leads him to monotheism and his nature invites him to being grateful to his Lord, knowing His divine essence, and further, Man's social spirit calls him to the service of the deprived by practicing deeds of charity. Therefore, the root of these characteristics, in general, exists in all humans and that is why these laws are also found in the teachings of all the former prophets and are the core in the teachings of the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (S).