Sura 3, al- Imran, Medina

The Quranic text and Ali’s translation

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اتَّقُواْ اللّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ...

3:102. O ye who believe!

fear God as He should be feared,

...وَلاَ تَمُوتُنَّ إِلاَّ وَأَنتُم مُّسْلِمُونَ ﴿١٠٢﴾

and die not except in a state of Islam.

[ Asad’s note 17 to 68:35

This is the earliest occurance of the term “muslimun (sing. Muslim) in the history of Quranic revelation.

Throughout this work, I have translated the terms ‘muslim’ and ‘islam’ in accordance with their original connotations, namely “ one who surrenders [ or “has surrendered”] himself to God”, and “man’s self-surrender to God”: the same holds good of all forms of the verb ‘aslama’ occurring in the Quran.

It should be borne in mind that the “institutionalized” use of these terms – that is, their exclusive application to the followers of the Prophet Muhammad – represents a definitely post-Quranic development and, hence, must be avoided in a translation of the Quran.]

وَاعْتَصِمُواْ بِحَبْلِ اللّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلاَ تَفَرَّقُواْ...

3:103. And hold fast, all together, by the rope which God (stretches out for you), and be not divided among yourselves;

...وَاذْكُرُواْ نِعْمَةَ اللّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ كُنتُمْ أَعْدَاء...

and remember with gratitude God’s favor on you;

...فَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِكُمْ فَأَصْبَحْتُم بِنِعْمَتِهِ إِخْوَانًا...

for ye were enemies and He joined your hearts in love, so that by His grace, ye became brethren;

...وَكُنتُمْ عَلَىَ شَفَا حُفْرَةٍ مِّنَ النَّارِ فَأَنقَذَكُم مِّنْهَا...

and ye were on the brink of the pit of fire, and He saved you from it.

...كَذَلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللّهُ لَكُمْ آيَاتِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ ﴿١٠٣﴾

Thus doth God make His signs clear to you: that ye may be guided.

وَلْتَكُن مِّنكُمْ أُمَّةٌ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى الْخَيْرِ وَيَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ...

3:104. Let there arise out of you a band of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong;

...وَأُوْلَـئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ ﴿١٠٤﴾

they are the ones to attain felicity.

Asad’s Translation:

3:102

O you who have attained to faith! Be conscious of God with all the consciousness that is due to Him, and do not allow death to overtake you ere you have surrendered yourselves unto Him.

3:103

And hold fast, all together, unto the bond with God, and do not draw apart from one another. And remember the blessings which God has bestowed upon you: how, when you were enemies, He brought your hearts together, so that through His blessing you became brethren; and [how, when] you were on the brink of a fiery abyss. 79 He saved you from it. In this way God makes clear His messages unto you, so that you might find guidance,

(3:104)

and that there might grow out of you a community [of people] who invite unto all that is good, and enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid the doing of what is wrong: and it is they, they happy state !

Yuksel’s translation:

"And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of Allaah (i.e., this Qur'an), and be not divided among yourselves."

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Asad’s comments:

79 Lit., "a pit of fire" - a metaphor of the sufferings which are the inescapable consequence of spiritual ignorance. The reminder of their one-time mutual enmity is an allusion to man's lot on earth (cf. 2:36 and 7:24), from which only God's guidance can save him (see 2:37-38).

Ali’s comments: –

C427. Fear is of many kinds:

1. the abject fear of the coward;

2. the fear of a child or an inexperienced person in the face of an unknown danger;

3. the fear of a reasonable man who wishes to avoid harm to himself or to people whom he wishes to protect;

4. the reverence which is akin to love, for it fears to do anything which is not pleasing to the object of love.

The first is unworthy of man; the second is necessary for one immature; the third is a manly precaution against evil as long as it is unconquered; and the fourth is the seed-bed of righteousness.

Those mature in faith cultivate the fourth: at earlier stages, the third or the second may be necessary; they are fear, but not the fear of Allah.

The first is a feeling of which anyone should be ashamed.

C428. Our whole being should be permeated with Islam: it is not a mere veneer or outward show.

C429. The simile is that of people struggling in deep water, to whom a benevolent Providence stretches out a strong and unbreakable rope of rescue.

If all hold fast to it together, their mutual support adds to the chance of their safety.

C430. Yathrib was torn with civil and tribal feuds and dissensions before the Messenger of Allah set his feet on its soil. After that, it became the City of the Prophet, Madinah, and unmatched Brotherhood, and the pivot of Islam.

This poor quarrelsome world is a larger Yathrib: can we establish the sacred feet on its soil, and make it a new and larger Madinah?

C431. Muflih, aflaha, falah: the root idea is;

- attainment of desires;

- happiness, in this world and the next;

- success;

- prosperity;

- freedom from anxiety, care, or a disturbed state of mind;

the opposite of 'azab in the next verse, which includes:

- failure;

- misery;

- punishment or penalty;

- agony or anguish.

The ideal Muslim community is happy, untroubled by conflicts or doubts, sure of itself, strong, united, and prosperous: because it invites to all that is good; enjoins the right; and forbids the wrong, -a master- stroke of description in three clauses.]]

[[ Notes: -

In his famous farewell sermon at 'Arafat on his final pilgrimage/al- khutbat-al- wida, just before his death, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) summed up the essence of the social message of the Islam as anti-racism when he proclaimed:

"All human beings are descendent from the prototype Adam, and Adam has been created from the earth. There is no superiority for an Arab over a non-Arab, nor for a non-Arab over an Arab. Neither is there superiority for a white person over a black person, nor for a black person over a white person, except the superiority gained through God-consciousness/ taqwa. Indeed the noblest of you in the sight of God is the one with the most righteous conduct/taqwa. "

This famous prophetic tradition/hadith is further reinforced by a verse in the Glorious Quran in Surah al-Rum, Chapter 30, Verse 22 in which differences in languages and pigmentations of skin among human beings are described as signs of the existence of God, which need to be celebrated.

And of the Signs of Allah, is the creation of the heavens and the earth and in the variations of your languages and skin color

Third, Islam has made the alleviation of human suffering through acts of charity/zakat, one of the five pillars/arkan al-Islam on which it is built. This is established on a prophetic tradition/hadith reported on the authority of Ibn Umar, the son of Umar bin al-Khattab, May Allah be pleased with both, who said: I heard the messenger of Allah say:

"Islam has been built on five [pillars]: testifying that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, performing the prayers, paying the zakat, making the pilgrimage to the House, and fasting in Ramadan." (the tradition was related by Bukhari and Muslim)

The categories of zakat recipients have been clearly outlined by Allah, the Sublime, in Chapter 9, verse 60, of the Glorious Quran as follows;

Alms are for the poor and needy, for its administration, for the promotion of goodwill towards Islam, for liberation struggles, for debtors, for all beneficial causes, and for refugees.

Fourth, the Islamic concept of peace does not merely aspire for a cessation of war, known in the literature as negative peace. The Islamic concept of peace is a positive one that seeks to build long-year sustainable relationships and reconciliation based on justice known in the Quran as adl and qist. This is clearly enunciated in the following verse from the Glorious Quran:

If two parties among the Believers fall into a quarrel, make peace between them; but if one of them transgressors beyond all bounds against the other, then fight you all against the transgressor until it complies with the command of Allah; but if it complies then make peace between them with JUSTICE and be FAIR; for Allah loves those who are fair and just (Surah-al-Hujurat, Chapter 49, Verse 9). ]]