Surah Al-Baqara (2) — Ayah 213

(Ayah 213) ➊ In this verse, it has been revealed as a historical fact that the beginning of humanity was not with disbelief, polytheism, and the worship of magnificent creations such as the sun, moon, fire, air, water, angels, and righteous humans, etc., but rather with pure monotheism. In the beginning, all humans had only one religion of monotheism and belonged to one community. Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: "Between Adam and Noah (peace be upon them) there were ten generations (one thousand years). All of them were upon the true Shariah (monotheism), then (due to the deception of Satan, polytheism entered among them and) differences arose among them, so Allah sent (Noah, peace be upon him, and other) prophets." [ طبری و حاکم 442/2، ح : ۳۶۵۴، بسند صحیح] Then prophets continued to come, and books were revealed to them, so that they could bring people out of differences and towards divine guidance. In this verse, {”فَبَعَثَ اللّٰهُ“} is connected to an omitted phrase, that is, {”فَاخْتَلَفُوْا فَبَعَثَ اللّٰہُ“} "So they differed, then Allah sent prophets." (Kabir, Ibn Jarir) See also Surah Yunus (21).
➋ {فَهَدَى اللّٰهُ الَّذِيْنَ اٰمَنُوْا لِمَا اخْتَلَفُوْا فِيْهِ مِنَ الْحَقِّ بِاِذْنِهٖ :} That is, the differences in the previous communities did not arise due to ignorance, but because of mutual jealousy, stubbornness, and rebellion, which caused them to split into sects and thus they went astray. Now Allah, by sending His last Prophet and revealing His last Book to him, has decided all differences, and by His special grace {”بِاِذْنِهٖ“} has guided the believers to the straight path. (Baydawi, Fath al-Bayan) It should be clear that in the Ummah of Muhammad (peace be upon him), in the beginning, there was no difference in religion either; all the righteous predecessors acted directly upon the Quran and Hadith instead of following any individual. Among them, there was no division of Shia and Sunni, nor was there any Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali, Naqshbandi, Qadiri, Suhrawardi, or Chishti. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "You will surely follow the ways of those before you, just as one span matches another, and one cubit matches another, so much so that if they entered the hole of a lizard, you would follow them." It was asked: "O Messenger of Allah! Do you mean the Jews and Christians?" He said: "Then who else?" [ بخاری، أحادیث الأنبیاء، باب ما ذکر عن بنی إسرائیل : ۳۴۵۶۔ مسلم : ۲۶۶۹] According to this statement of his, when in this Ummah too, like the People of the Book, blind following of personal opinions and undue support for one's own group became rigid, and people began to consider the sayings of men as religion instead of the Quran and Hadith, the Ummah split into various sects and was destroyed. Only those remained safe who adhered directly to the Quran and Sunnah and did not become part of any new group. [ وَلِلّٰہِ الْحَمْدُ]
➌ When the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would get up at night, he would begin his night prayer with this supplication: [ اَللّٰھُمَّ رَبَّ جِبْرَائِیْلَ وَ مِیْکَائِیْلَ وَ اِسْرَافِیْلَ، فَاطِرَ السَّمٰوَاتِ وَالْاَرْضِ، عَالِمَ الْغَیْبِ وَالشَّہَادَۃِ أَنْتَ تَحْکُمُ بَیْنَ عِبَادِکَ فِیْمَا کَانُوْا فِیْہِ یَخْتَلِفُوْنَ، اہْدِنِیْ لِمَا اخْتُلِفَ فِیْہِ مِنَ الْحَقِّ بِاِذْنِکَ اِنَّکَ تَہْدِیْ مَنْ تَشَاءُ إِلٰی صِرَاطٍ مُّسْتَقِیْمٍ] [ مسلم، صلٰوۃ المسافرین، باب صلوۃ النبی صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم ودعاء ہ باللیل : ۷۷۰]

213. 1 That is, upon Tawheed. From Hazrat Adam (peace be upon him) to Hazrat Nuh (peace be upon him), that is, for ten centuries, people remained upon Tawheed, which was taught by the Prophets. The commentators among the Companions have considered the phrase فاختَلَفُوْا as abrogated, meaning that after this, due to the whisperings of Satan, differences arose among them and shirk and outward formalism became widespread. So Allah sent the Prophets with the Books so that they may decide among the people regarding their differences and establish and clarify the truth and Tawheed (Ibn Kathir).

213. 2 Differences always arise due to deviation from the path of truth, and the source of deviation becomes malice and stubbornness. In the Muslim Ummah as well, as long as this deviation did not occur, this Ummah remained established upon its origin and was protected from the intensity of differences. But blind imitation and innovations opened the way for avoidance of the truth, due to which the circle of differences kept expanding and increasing, until the unity of the Ummah has become an impossible thing.

213. 3 For example, the People of the Book differed regarding Jumu'ah; the Jews made Saturday and the Christians made Sunday their sacred day, so Allah guided the Muslims to choose Friday. They differed regarding Hazrat Isa (peace be upon him); the Jews denied him and slandered his mother Hazrat Maryam, while the Christians made him the son of Allah and even Allah. Allah granted the Muslims the ability to adopt the correct stance regarding him, that he was Allah's Messenger and His ruling servant. They also differed regarding Hazrat Ibrahim (peace be upon him); one group called him a Jew and the other a Christian. Allah told the Muslims the correct thing, that he was (حنیفاً مُسْلِماً), and in many such other matters, Allah, by His grace, showed the Muslims the straight path.

213. (In the beginning,) all people were one community (following one way of life). Then they differed among themselves, so Allah sent prophets as bearers of good news [281] and as warners. With them, He sent down the Book in truth to judge between people concerning that in which they differed. But those who differed about it, after clear proofs had come to them, did so out of mutual envy and arrogance. Then Allah, by His permission, guided those who believed to the truth regarding that over which they had differed. And Allah guides whom He wills to the straight path.

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Did Human Life Begin with Tawheed or Shirk?

What was the way and religion of this single community? It was pure Tawheed and obedience and worship of Allah alone. This very thing was instilled in human nature. Moreover, the very first human, the father of mankind, Hazrat Adam ؑ, was himself a prophet. Therefore, all his progeny and his community were established upon this religion. But when the modern Western scholars (whom we Muslims have nowadays accepted as our teachers in every field of knowledge) sit down to write the history of religion, they say that man began his life in the darkness of shirk, then passed through several stages, and finally reached the station of Tawheed. And this very theory is taught in our colleges, and it is completely wrong according to the theory presented by Islam, and its reasons are as follows. It is said that the oldest and most primitive emotion within man is the emotion of fear. This emotion arose from witnessing those terrifying events that frequently occurred in this world in the form of storms, earthquakes, and epidemics. This emotion of fear compelled man to worship unseen powers, whom man considered to be the cause of these events. In this way, man began religion with shirk. This theory is wrong in that earthquakes, storms, floods, and epidemics occur only occasionally in the world, whereas the blessings of the world existed in abundance even before the creation of man. Trees bore fruit, crops grew, rains fell, moonlight spread, stars shone, flowers bloomed. In other words, the provisions for man's sustenance, as well as for his beauty and aesthetic pleasure, were already abundantly present. Now the question is: when man began his life, were these blessings of Lordship and manifestations of mercy present first, or were the accidental events? Or were these blessings greater in number, or the accidental events in comparison? And should man, at the outset, have had his heart filled with gratitude for the countless favors of a Merciful, Compassionate, and Provider Being, or should he have been overwhelmed by fear of accidents from the very beginning? Whoever reflects on these matters without stubbornness and obstinacy cannot deny the reality that the true direction of human nature is the very one indicated by the Noble Quran, not the one pointed to by these Western scholars. The second reason is that the very word "fear" indicates the prior existence of some blessing. Fear is, in fact, the name of losing such a blessing that is dear to man and already available. Whether it is the danger of earthquakes, the fear of floods, or epidemics, in all of them there is the concept of losing some precious blessing, whether that blessing is man's health or sustenance. In other words, before every fear, the awareness of a blessing is essential, and when there is awareness of a blessing, then awareness of a true Benefactor is also necessary, and then the emotion of gratitude towards Him is inevitably born. The natural path of man's observation of the universe seems to be that, through the abundance and observation of blessings and mercies, the emotion and feeling of gratitude towards a true Benefactor arises in him, and then, under this emotion, he is inclined towards His worship. As for the question that, once man set out on the highway of Tawheed, how did he then fall onto the paths of shirk, its reason is certainly not that there was any flaw in his nature, but the real reason is the misuse of man's power of will and choice, that some cunning people, for their worldly interests, fabricated some false beliefs and led the masses astray. When such corruption arose among people and shirk began to corrupt many other moral values as well, Allah again began to send prophets. The teachings of all these prophets were the same: that the Creator, Owner, and Provider of everything in the universe and of mankind is only Allah Almighty. Therefore, He alone is worthy of worship and servitude. Man should worship Him alone and submit to His commands. Then those who accept Allah's commands and obey them will receive a good reward, and those who are disobedient and polytheists will also be punished. For this reward and punishment, belief in the life of the Hereafter is essential, and this world is merely a place of trial, not a place of reward. And these very fundamentals of religion were revealed to every prophet, which are in complete accordance with sound reason.

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The Disagreement of the Ummah and Sectarianism:

In this verse, Allah Almighty has, in reality, described the entire story of the rise and fall of every prophet's community. The period of rise is when this community, as a whole, remains united and agreed, and when such disagreements arise within it that become the basis of sectarianism, then understand that its decline has begun. And these disagreements do not occur because the Book of Allah does not clarify the truth completely and the truth becomes ambiguous to them. Rather, the real motives behind this disagreement and sectarianism are something else, which Allah Almighty has, in the Quran, expressed several times with a comprehensive word ﴿ بَغْيًا بَيْنَهُمْ﴾. That is, some people, despite knowing the truth, want to obtain distinctions, benefits, and profits beyond their legitimate right, and do not hesitate to oppress, rebel, and transgress against each other so that their own banner may be raised. Some people declare the religion of their forefathers as the true religion and insist upon it, or insist on giving preference to the statement of a particular Imam over the command of Allah, and in this way, new sects continue to emerge and the unity of the community is shattered, and these very sects become the cause of its decline.

The Cure for Sectarianism:

In such circumstances, Allah Almighty used to send a new prophet, who would show people the path of truth in matters of disagreement and form a new community from among them, uniting the people once again as a single community. But in the Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ, no prophet will come now, because he ﷺ has given this glad tidings: "A group from my Ummah will always remain steadfast upon the truth until the Day of Judgment comes." [بخاري، كتاب الاعتصام، باب قول النبى لا تزال طائفه من امتي۔۔۔ ] The Companions ؓ asked, "Which group will that be?" He ﷺ replied, "The one upon which I and my Companions are." [ترمذي، كتاب الايمان، باب افتراق هذه الامة نيز ديكهئے اسي سورة كا حاشيه نمبر 220] Therefore, even today, the only cure for sectarianism is to abandon all kinds of prejudices and turn towards the Book and the Sunnah.