Surah Ash-Shura (42) — Ayah 13

(Ayah 13) ➊ The statement made at the beginning of { شَرَعَ لَكُمْ مِّنَ الدِّيْنِ مَا وَصّٰى بِهٖ نُوْحًا:} Surah: « كَذٰلِكَ يُوْحِيْۤ اِلَيْكَ وَ اِلَى الَّذِيْنَ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ اللّٰهُ الْعَزِيْزُ الْحَكِيْمُ » (In the same way, He reveals to you and to those before you, He is Allah, the All-Mighty, the All-Wise) is now being explained here in more detail. The address from {’’ لَكُمْ ‘‘} is to our Ummah, meaning Allah has not prescribed for you a foreign or novel religion; it is the same religion that He prescribed for all the previous and former prophets. From this, it is understood that the religion of all the prophets is one, and that is Islam, as He said: « اِنَّ الدِّيْنَ عِنْدَ اللّٰهِ الْاِسْلَامُ » [ آل عمران : ۱۹ ] "Indeed, the religion with Allah is Islam." Which means to submit completely to Allah. The title of this religion is {’’لَا إِلٰهَ إِلاَّ اللّٰهُ‘‘} that is, worship and obedience to the One Allah. The same religion was revealed to all the prophets and messengers, as He said: « وَ مَاۤ اَرْسَلْنَا مِنْ قَبْلِكَ مِنْ رَّسُوْلٍ اِلَّا نُوْحِيْۤ اِلَيْهِ اَنَّهٗ لَاۤ اِلٰهَ اِلَّاۤ اَنَا فَاعْبُدُوْنِ» [ الأنبیاء : ۲۵ ] "And We did not send any messenger before you except that We revealed to him that there is no deity except Me, so worship Me." In Surah Al-An'am, after emphasizing monotheism and refuting polytheism, the mention of eighteen prophets including Noah and Abraham (peace be upon them) was made by name, then mentioning their fathers, children, and brothers, it was said that if these people had committed shirk, all their deeds would have been wasted. After this, you (peace be upon him) were commanded to follow their way and it was said: « اُولٰٓىِٕكَ الَّذِيْنَ هَدَى اللّٰهُ فَبِهُدٰىهُمُ اقْتَدِهْ » [الأنعام : ۹۰ ] "These are the ones whom Allah has guided, so follow their guidance."

➋ What is religion? Allah said: « وَ مَاۤ اُمِرُوْۤا اِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوا اللّٰهَ مُخْلِصِيْنَ لَهُ الدِّيْنَ حُنَفَآءَ وَ يُقِيْمُوا الصَّلٰوةَ وَ يُؤْتُوا الزَّكٰوةَ وَ ذٰلِكَ دِيْنُ الْقَيِّمَةِ » [ البینۃ : ۵ ] "And they were not commanded except to worship Allah, being sincere to Him in religion, inclining to truth, and to establish prayer and to give zakah. And that is the correct religion." From this, it is understood that worshiping Allah alone with sincerity, establishing prayer, and giving zakah is religion, which was also commanded to the previous nations. In the famous Hadith of Jibril narrated in Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) explained Islam, Iman, and Ihsan in detail, then mentioned the Day of Judgment and some of its signs. When Jibril (peace be upon him) left, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: [ فَإِنَّهُ جِبْرِيْلُ أَتَاكُمْ يُعَلِّمُكُمْ دِيْنَكُمْ ] [ مسلم، الإیمان، باب بیان الإیمان و الإسلام… : ۸۔ بخاري : ۵۰ ] "That was Jibril (peace be upon him), he came to teach you your religion." From this, it is understood that the five pillars of Islam are religion, belief in Allah, His angels, His messengers, His books, the Last Day, and destiny is religion, sincerity and ihsan in action is religion, concern for the matters of the Day of Judgment is religion. Then, when faith is religion, all those things included in faith are also religion, which are declared as faith or branches of faith in the Qur'an or Hadith. Imam Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) has quoted two verses of the Qur'an in {’’بَابُ أُمُوْرِ الْإِيْمَانِ‘‘}, one is the verse of Surah Al-Baqarah: « لَيْسَ الْبِرَّ اَنْ تُوَلُّوْا وُجُوْهَكُمْ قِبَلَ الْمَشْرِقِ وَ الْمَغْرِبِ وَ لٰكِنَّ الْبِرَّ مَنْ اٰمَنَ بِاللّٰهِ وَ الْيَوْمِ الْاٰخِرِ وَ الْمَلٰٓىِٕكَةِ وَ الْكِتٰبِ وَ النَّبِيّٖنَ وَ اٰتَى الْمَالَ عَلٰى حُبِّهٖ ذَوِي الْقُرْبٰى وَ الْيَتٰمٰى وَ الْمَسٰكِيْنَ وَ ابْنَ السَّبِيْلِ وَ السَّآىِٕلِيْنَ وَ فِي الرِّقَابِ وَ اَقَامَ الصَّلٰوةَ وَ اٰتَى الزَّكٰوةَ وَ الْمُوْفُوْنَ بِعَهْدِهِمْ اِذَا عٰهَدُوْا وَ الصّٰبِرِيْنَ فِي الْبَاْسَآءِ وَ الضَّرَّآءِ وَ حِيْنَ الْبَاْسِ اُولٰٓىِٕكَ الَّذِيْنَ صَدَقُوْا وَ اُولٰٓىِٕكَ هُمُ الْمُتَّقُوْنَ» [ البقرۃ : ۱۷۷ ] "Righteousness is not that you turn your faces toward the east or the west, but true righteousness is in one who believes in Allah, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets, and gives wealth, in spite of love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveler, those who ask [for help], and for freeing slaves; and [who] establishes prayer and gives zakah; [those who] fulfill their promise when they promise; and [those who] are patient in poverty and hardship and during battle. Those are the ones who have been true, and it is those who are the righteous." And the opening verses of Surah Al-Mu’minun: «قَدْ اَفْلَحَ الْمُؤْمِنُوْنَ (1) الَّذِيْنَ هُمْ فِيْ صَلَاتِهِمْ خٰشِعُوْنَ (2) وَ الَّذِيْنَ هُمْ عَنِ اللَّغْوِ مُعْرِضُوْنَ (3) وَ الَّذِيْنَ هُمْ لِلزَّكٰوةِ فٰعِلُوْنَ (4) وَ الَّذِيْنَ هُمْ لِفُرُوْجِهِمْ حٰفِظُوْنَ (5) اِلَّا عَلٰۤى اَزْوَاجِهِمْ اَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ اَيْمَانُهُمْ فَاِنَّهُمْ غَيْرُ مَلُوْمِيْنَ (6) فَمَنِ ابْتَغٰى وَرَآءَ ذٰلِكَ فَاُولٰٓىِٕكَ هُمُ الْعٰدُوْنَ (7) وَ الَّذِيْنَ هُمْ لِاَمٰنٰتِهِمْ وَ عَهْدِهِمْ رٰعُوْنَ (8) وَ الَّذِيْنَ هُمْ عَلٰى صَلَوٰتِهِمْ يُحَافِظُوْنَ (9) اُولٰٓىِٕكَ هُمُ الْوٰرِثُوْنَ (10) الَّذِيْنَ يَرِثُوْنَ الْفِرْدَوْسَ هُمْ فِيْهَا خٰلِدُوْنَ » [ المؤمنون : ۱تا۱۱ ] "Certainly will the believers have succeeded: They who are during their prayer humbly submissive, and they who turn away from ill speech, and they who are observant of zakah, and they who guard their private parts, except from their wives or those their right hands possess, for indeed, they will not be blamed—But whoever seeks beyond that, then those are the transgressors—And they who are to their trusts and their promises attentive, and they who carefully maintain their prayers—Those are the inheritors, who will inherit al-Firdaus. They will abide therein eternally." After this, the hadith is mentioned that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: [ اَلْإِيْمَانُ بِضْعٌ وَسِتُّوْنَ شُعْبَةً، وَالْحَيَاءُ شُعْبَةٌ مِنَ الْإِيْمَانِ ] [ بخاري، الإیمان، باب أمور الإیمان : ۹۔ مسلم : ۳۵ ] "Faith has over sixty branches, and modesty is a part of faith." After this, the matters of religion are mentioned in various chapters.

In summary, the original religion of all the prophets is one, although there may be differences in the manner of performing certain acts. For example, prayer was obligatory on every nation, but there may be differences in its times and number of units, etc. Fasting was obligatory on all, but its manner is known to differ. Zakah was obligatory on every nation, but there may be differences in its nisab and amount, etc. Similarly, according to the different nations and times, some things may be abrogated or changed according to Allah’s revelation, and this does happen. In some nations, there may be leniency in some matters and strictness in others, but the original religion is one. This is the meaning of the hadith that has already been mentioned in the commentary of the third verse of this Surah: [اَلْأَنْبِيَاءُ إِخْوَةٌ لِعَلاَّتٍ ] [ بخاري : ۳۴۴۳ ] "The prophets are paternal brothers (born of different mothers)." Until Allah completed His religion upon the Seal of the Prophets (peace be upon him), He said: « اَلْيَوْمَ اَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِيْنَكُمْ وَ اَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِيْ وَ رَضِيْتُ لَكُمُ الْاِسْلَامَ دِيْنًا » [ المائدۃ : ۳ ] "Today I have perfected your religion for you and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion."

➌ {وَ الَّذِيْۤ اَوْحَيْنَاۤ اِلَيْكَ وَ مَا وَصَّيْنَا بِهٖۤ … :} Although the religion of all the prophets was one, here only five prophets are mentioned, and their order is not according to their time. The commentators say that it was not possible to mention all the prophets by name, nor was it necessary (see Al-Mu’min: 78), so at each place, the prophets appropriate to the context are mentioned. Here, the mention is first of two messengers, of whom Noah (peace be upon him) was the first messenger to the people of the earth, as is in the hadith of intercession. [ دیکھیے بخاري : ۳۳۴۰ ] Before him, Adam (peace be upon him) was indeed a prophet, but he was not sent to any nation. With the first messenger, the mention of the last prophet (peace be upon him) is made, meaning that the religion prescribed by Allah is the same from the first messenger to the last messenger. After this, three great messengers are mentioned, because at the time of the coming of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), among the heavenly religions, only the followers of these three claimed to exist in the world. The polytheists of Arabia claimed to be Abrahamic, the Jews were followers of Moses (peace be upon him), and the Christians were called followers of Jesus (peace be upon him). Apart from them, there was no notable nation attributed to any other prophet. Therefore, it is said that the religion of all of them is one, which Muhammad (peace be upon him) has brought. In Surah Al-Ahzab, the mention of these five prophets is also found in one verse. See Surah Al-Ahzab (7).

➍ { اَنْ اَقِيْمُوا الدِّيْنَ:} That is, Allah commanded all these prophets to establish the religion. Establishing the religion includes acting upon it oneself, inviting and preaching it, and practically implementing it. Along with the invitation, they were also commanded, as per their ability, to fight the disbelievers until they recite the testimony, establish prayer, and give zakah. In Surah At-Tawbah, the command regarding the polytheists was given that they are allowed to come and go in Makkah for four months, He said: « فَاِذَا انْسَلَخَ الْاَشْهُرُ الْحُرُمُ فَاقْتُلُوا الْمُشْرِكِيْنَ حَيْثُ وَجَدْتُّمُوْهُمْ وَ خُذُوْهُمْ وَ احْصُرُوْهُمْ وَ اقْعُدُوْا لَهُمْ كُلَّ مَرْصَدٍ فَاِنْ تَابُوْا وَ اَقَامُوا الصَّلٰوةَ وَ اٰتَوُا الزَّكٰوةَ فَخَلُّوْا سَبِيْلَهُمْ اِنَّ اللّٰهَ غَفُوْرٌ رَّحِيْمٌ » [ التوبۃ : ۵ ] "And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they repent, establish prayer, and give zakah, then let them go on their way. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful." Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: [أُمِرْتُ أَنْ أُقَاتِلَ النَّاسَ حَتّٰی يَشْهَدُوْا أَنْ لاَ إِلٰهَ إِلاَّ اللّٰهُ وَأَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ، وَ يُقِيْمُوا الصَّلاَةَ، وَ يُؤْتُوا الزَّكَاةَ ، فَإِذَا فَعَلُوْا ذٰلِكَ عَصَمُوْا مِنِّيْ دِمَاءَهُمْ وَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ إِلاَّ بِحَقِّ الْإِسْلاَمِ ، وَحِسَابُهُمْ عَلَی اللّٰهِ ] [ بخاري، الإیمان، باب : « فإن تابوا و أقاموا الصلاۃ… » : ۲۵ ] "I have been commanded to fight the people until they testify that there is no deity but Allah and that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the Messenger of Allah, and establish prayer and give zakah. If they do that, they have protected their blood and wealth from me except by the right of Islam, and their reckoning is with Allah."

As for the People of the Book who do not accept the true religion, the command was to fight them until they pay jizyah with their own hands and are humbled, He said: « قَاتِلُوا الَّذِيْنَ لَا يُؤْمِنُوْنَ بِاللّٰهِ وَ لَا بِالْيَوْمِ الْاٰخِرِ وَ لَا يُحَرِّمُوْنَ مَا حَرَّمَ اللّٰهُ وَ رَسُوْلُهٗ وَ لَا يَدِيْنُوْنَ دِيْنَ الْحَقِّ مِنَ الَّذِيْنَ اُوْتُوا الْكِتٰبَ حَتّٰى يُعْطُوا الْجِزْيَةَ عَنْ يَّدٍ وَّ هُمْ صٰغِرُوْنَ » [ التوبۃ : ۲۹ ] "Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture—[fight] until they give the jizyah by hand while they are humbled." Obviously, the establishment of religion and full implementation can only happen when it prevails over all other religions, as He said: « هُوَ الَّذِيْۤ اَرْسَلَ رَسُوْلَهٗ بِالْهُدٰى وَ دِيْنِ الْحَقِّ لِيُظْهِرَهٗ عَلَى الدِّيْنِ كُلِّهٖ وَ كَفٰى بِاللّٰهِ شَهِيْدًا» [ الفتح : ۲۸ ] "It is He who sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth to make it prevail over all religion. And sufficient is Allah as Witness."

In Islam, it is not enough to just pray and give zakah; it is also necessary to establish Allah’s system on His earth, so that everyone comes to the mosque to pray and gives zakah, He said: «وَ لَيَنْصُرَنَّ اللّٰهُ مَنْ يَّنْصُرُهٗ اِنَّ اللّٰهَ لَقَوِيٌّ عَزِيْزٌ (40) اَلَّذِيْنَ اِنْ مَّكَّنّٰهُمْ فِي الْاَرْضِ اَقَامُوا الصَّلٰوةَ وَ اٰتَوُا الزَّكٰوةَ وَ اَمَرُوْا بِالْمَعْرُوْفِ وَ نَهَوْا عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَ لِلّٰهِ عَاقِبَةُ الْاُمُوْرِ » [ الحج : ۴۰، ۴۱ ] "And Allah will surely support those who support Him. Indeed, Allah is Powerful and Exalted in Might. [They are] those who, if We give them authority in the land, establish prayer and give zakah and enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong. And to Allah belongs the outcome of [all] matters." A large part of Islam is such that it can only be implemented when the reins of government are in the hands of the believers. Allah has stated the purpose of revealing His Book: « اِنَّاۤ اَنْزَلْنَاۤ اِلَيْكَ الْكِتٰبَ بِالْحَقِّ لِتَحْكُمَ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ بِمَاۤ اَرٰىكَ اللّٰهُ » [ النساء : ۱۰۵ ] "Indeed, We have sent down to you the Book in truth so that you may judge between the people by that which Allah has shown you." Obviously, judging among people according to Allah’s command can only happen when those who judge by it are in power. In the rule of the disbelievers, the system of prayer in which every Muslim, even the hypocrites, come to the mosque to pray, whether they stand lazily or for show, cannot be established. (See An-Nisa: 143) The collection of zakah (At-Tawbah: 103) and its distribution according to Allah’s command (At-Tawbah: 60) is not possible except under Muslim rule. The command to abolish usury and the declaration of war against those who persist in usury can only be implemented when the government and economy of the country are in the hands of the believers. The command for retribution in cases of murder and injury (Al-Baqarah: 178, Al-Ma’idah: 45), the command to cut the hand for theft (Al-Ma’idah: 38), and the command to carry out the hadd for adultery and false accusation (An-Nur: 2–4) are given to Muslim rulers, not to the courts and police of the disbelievers, nor will they ever implement them. In this Book, fighting the disbelievers is not made obligatory on Muslims (Al-Baqarah: 190, 216) so that they fight for disbelief by joining the armies of the disbelievers while living under their rule, nor is the command to collect jizyah from the disbelievers (At-Tawbah: 29) given with the assumption that Muslims will collect jizyah from them while being subjugated by them. This system of Islamic rulings was not only presented after reaching Madinah; the same point was made clear in the Makkan Surahs as well. See Surah Bani Isra’il (80, 81), Al-Qasas (85), Ar-Rum (1–7), As-Saffat (171–173), Sad (11), Al-Qamar (43–45), and Surah Al-Muzzammil (20).

The life of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is the best example of establishing the religion. He (peace be upon him) established the religion through both preaching and the sword, bringing the whole of Arabia into the fold of Islam and establishing such a government that guaranteed the full implementation of Allah’s religion. After him, the caliphs of Islam completed this duty, until Allah’s religion was established in the east and west of the earth. Then, due to their own incompetence and not understanding or deliberately neglecting the requirements of the Book of Allah and abandoning jihad, Muslims became subjugated by the disbelievers. Now, some of them have two or four things of Islam, and some have five, ten, or more or less. The rest of their lives are bound by the system of disbelief, and unfortunately, they are content with this and have become parts of the system of disbelief, and many of them, having despaired of the dominance of Islam, instead of trying to break the systems of democracy and other systems of disbelief, are striving to prove them as Islam. Yes! According to the glad tidings of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), a group of mujahideen, the "Ta’ifah Mansurah," remains and will always remain, who will never accept the dominance of disbelief and, for the dominance of religion, instead of mere verbal philosophies, will continue to perform the duty of fighting along with preaching, and will always benefit from Allah’s help. May Allah include us in this blessed group as well. (Ameen)

➎ { وَ لَا تَتَفَرَّقُوْا فِيْهِ:} There are several forms of division in religion, one of which is that, like the People of the Book, some matters are acted upon according to the Book of Allah, and in others, one acts according to one’s own desires instead of the Book of Allah, as He said about the People of the Book: « اَفَتُؤْمِنُوْنَ بِبَعْضِ الْكِتٰبِ وَ تَكْفُرُوْنَ بِبَعْضٍ » [ البقرۃ : ۸۵ ] "Do you believe in part of the Book and disbelieve in part?" Another form is to make something a part of religion that is not proven from Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him). This is called innovation (bid’ah). The Sunnah will always be one, because the one whose Sunnah it is, is one, whereas innovations are countless, because those who invent them are countless. Then, when a person deviates from the original Sunnah, he does not remain on one innovation, but innovations permeate his very being, and along with that, he forms his own separate sect. Even if he comes to know that something of his, or his sect, or his leader, is against the Book of Allah or the Hadith of the Messenger (peace be upon him), he still persists in his group’s wrong matter, does not turn to the truth, and instead of submitting his or his leader’s statement to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace be upon him), he distorts the meanings of verses and hadiths to prove them according to himself. He calls this interpretation and says that every verse or hadith that is against the elders of our sect will be interpreted or is abrogated. Whereas that verse or hadith is not against his elders, because it was revealed long before those elders, rather, the statement of his elders is against the verse or hadith, either because they did not know it, or it did not come to their mind. Mu’awiyah bin Abu Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with them) said that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) stood among us and said: [ أَلاَ إِنَّ مَنْ قَبْلَكُمْ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ افْتَرَقُوْا عَلٰی ثِنْتَيْنِ وَسَبْعِيْنَ مِلَّةً وَ إِنَّ هٰذِهِ الْمِلَّةَ سَتَفْتَرِقُ عَلٰی ثَلاَثٍ وَسَبْعِيْنَ، ثِنْتَانِ وَ سَبْعُوْنَ فِي النَّارِ وَ وَاحِدَةٌ فِي الْجَنَّةِ وَهِيَ الْجَمَاعَةُ، وَإِنَّهُ سَيَخْرُجُ مِنْ أُمَّتِيْ أَقْوَامٌ تَجَارٰی بِهِمْ تِلْكَ الْأَهْوَاءُ كَمَا يَتَجَارَی الْكَلَبُ لِصَاحِبِهِ لاَ يَبْقٰی مِنْهُ عِرْقٌ وَلاَ مَفْصِلٌ إِلاَّ دَخَلَهُ ] [أبوداوٗد، السنۃ، باب شرح السنۃ : ۴۵۹۷ ] "Listen! The People of the Book before you split into seventy-two sects, and this Ummah will split into seventy-three sects, seventy-two in the Fire and one in Paradise, and that is 'the Jama’ah.' And indeed, in my Ummah, many groups will emerge in which these desires (innovations) will permeate just as rabies permeates its patient, leaving no vein or joint except that it enters it." See also the commentary of Surah Al-An’am, verse (159): «اِنَّ الَّذِيْنَ فَرَّقُوْا دِيْنَهُمْ وَ كَانُوْا شِيَعًا».

➏ { كَبُرَ عَلَى الْمُشْرِكِيْنَ مَا تَدْعُوْهُمْ اِلَيْهِ:} The matter to which you invite the polytheists is very burdensome for them, meaning the invitation to worship one Allah. This invitation is so heavy for the disbelievers that not only do they refuse to accept it, they cannot even bear to hear it, as He said: « وَ اِذَا ذُكِرَ اللّٰهُ وَحْدَهُ اشْمَاَزَّتْ قُلُوْبُ الَّذِيْنَ لَا يُؤْمِنُوْنَ بِالْاٰخِرَةِ وَ اِذَا ذُكِرَ الَّذِيْنَ مِنْ دُوْنِهٖۤ اِذَاهُمْ يَسْتَبْشِرُوْنَ » [ الزمر : ۴۵ ] "And when Allah alone is mentioned, the hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter shrink with aversion, but when those [worshipped] other than Him are mentioned, immediately they rejoice." They leave the gathering in which the matter of one God is discussed, as He said: « اَجَعَلَ الْاٰلِهَةَ اِلٰهًا وَّاحِدًا اِنَّ هٰذَا لَشَيْءٌ عُجَابٌ (5) وَ انْطَلَقَ الْمَلَاُ مِنْهُمْ اَنِ امْشُوْا وَ اصْبِرُوْا عَلٰۤى اٰلِهَتِكُمْ اِنَّ هٰذَا لَشَيْءٌ يُّرَادُ » [ صٓ : ۵، ۶ ]

13. 1. Only the worship of one Allah and obedience to Him (or obedience to His Messenger, which is in fact obedience to Allah), avoiding His worship and obedience, associating others with Him, causing discord, which has been forbidden by calling it 'creating division'.
13. 2. And that is the same monotheism and obedience to Allah and His Messenger.
13. 3. That is, He selects for guidance the one whom He considers deserving of guidance.
13. 4. That is, He grants the ability to adopt His religion and to make worship sincere for Allah to the person who turns towards His obedience and worship.

13. He has ordained for you [14] the same religion which He enjoined upon Noah, and that which We have revealed to you, and that which We enjoined upon Abraham [15], Moses, and Jesus: "Establish the religion and do not be divided [16] therein." What you call the polytheists to is hard [17] for them. Allah chooses for Himself whom He wills, and guides to Himself whoever turns to Him.

[14]
The Difference Between Deen and Shari’ah and Examples of Mutable Rulings:

In this verse, the word "shar‘" appears, and the word "shari‘ah" is derived from it. The other word is "deen." And from ﴿مِنَ الدِّيْنِ﴾, it is understood that shari‘ah is also a part of deen. We present this distinction here with some clarification: The word "deen" has a very broad meaning. Briefly, it is used in four senses:
(1) The complete and perfect political and legal sovereignty of Allah
(2) The complete servitude and worship of man
(3) The law of reward and punishment or national penal code
(4) The power to enforce the law of reward and punishment
Then, sometimes this word is used in one meaning and sometimes in more than one meaning. Now, the requirement of deen is that Allah commands His servants to do certain things, forbids them from certain actions, and whoever acts according to these commands is given a good reward, and whoever disobeys is punished. Thus, such commands that have remained unchanged from our master Adam ؑ to our master Muhammad ﷺ are the real deen, for example: the prohibition of shirk, the Hereafter and its accountability, the command to establish prayer and pay zakat, abstaining from unjust killing, theft, adultery, and indecency, etc. And the literal meaning of shar‘ is to determine a clear path (Mufradat al-Qur’an), and shari‘ah refers to those rulings that change according to the needs of the time and circumstances. For example, in the progeny of our master Adam ؑ, marriage between brother and sister was permissible, and this was a matter of necessity, which was later declared forbidden in subsequent shari‘ahs. Our master Ya‘qub ؑ had two real sisters in his wedlock, which were later forbidden in subsequent shari‘ahs. Similarly, in that era, prostration of respect was permissible, which was later forbidden. In previous shari‘ahs, benefiting from war booty was impermissible, which was made lawful for the Muslim Ummah. In previous shari‘ahs, the number of prayers, their method of performance, the rate of zakat, and the number of fasts were completely different from our present shari‘ah. In short, there are countless such examples. The difference between deen and shari‘ah has been clarified by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ himself in these words: "All the Prophets are paternal brothers. Their mothers (shari‘ahs) are different, but their father (deen) is one." [بخاری۔ کتاب الانبیاء ۔ باب واذکر فی الکتاب مریم]
Thus, the name of the principles and fundamental rulings is deen, and this part of deen is immutable. The second part is that in which changes have occurred in the details of these fundamental rulings. This mutable part is called shari‘ah. Here, it should be kept in mind and well understood that although the shari‘ah of a law-giving Prophet was different, it was still a part of that specific Prophet’s deen. And another noteworthy point is that since you (Muhammad ﷺ) are the last Prophet, the shari‘ah given to you is now also immutable, and the solution to the changing needs of the times will now be sought from the complete Islamic shari‘ah through ijtihad.

[15] In this verse, five Ulul-‘Azm Prophets are mentioned. The first law-giving Prophet was Nuh (Noah) عليه السلام, so he is mentioned first, and the last was Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, then he was mentioned. Then, in the intervening period, three law-giving Prophets—our master Ibrahim, our master Musa, and our master ‘Isa (peace be upon them)—are mentioned. And it is explained that just as We revealed the deen along with the shari‘ah to the previous Prophets with clarity, in the same way, revelation is being sent to you in this manner—that is, both the immutable part of deen and the mutable part, or shari‘ah. Then, sometimes the word deen is applied only to the immutable part of deen, as is clear from the above hadith.

[16] That is, all the Prophets were given deen and shari‘ah with the emphasis that this deen should be upheld. By "upheld" is meant that first, they themselves should implement its rulings, then enforce these rulings among the believers. And in the immutable principles of deen—that is, tawheed and the Hereafter, etc., which have been mentioned above—there should be no disagreement. Although the apparent addressees of this sentence seem to be the Prophets, in reality, the addressees are the followers of those Prophets, and this style is for further emphasis, because the very mission of the Prophets is to end previous disagreements, let alone introduce new ones.

[17] That is, the same tawheed and accountability of the Day of Judgment, which has been the immutable part of the deen of all previous Prophets and in which there could be no room for disagreement—when the polytheists of Makkah are invited to this, it is burdensome for them. That which, from our master Adam ؑ and our master Nuh ؑ until today, was rational and the unanimously agreed teaching of all Prophets, now seems heavy to them. And by differing from this fundamental teaching, they have become its opponents. In other words, their ignorance and wretchedness have reached their limit. And the reality is that only the person who himself seeks guidance and turns to Allah can benefit from this simple and pure teaching. The more a person turns to Allah, the more he will benefit from Allah’s guidance.