3:83 Aal-i-Imraan (The Family of Imraan)

أي: أيطلب الطالبون ويرغب الراغبون في غير دين الله؟ لا يحسن هذا ولا يليق، لأنه لا أحسن دينا من دين الله { وله أسلم من في السماوات والأرض طوعا وكرها } أي: الخلق كلهم منقادون بتسخيره مستسلمون له طوعا واختيارا، وهم المؤمنون المسلمون المنقادون لعبادة ربهم، وكرها وهم سائر الخلق، حتى الكافرون مستسلمون لقضائه وقدره لا خروج لهم عنه، ولا امتناع لهم منه، وإليه مرجع الخلائق كلها، فيحكم بينهم ويجازيهم بحكمه الدائر بين الفضل والعدل.

يقول تعالى منكرا على من أراد دينا سوى دين الله الذي أنزل به كتبه وأرسل به رسله وهو عبادة الله وحده لا شريك له الذي له أسلم من في السموات والأرض أي استسلم له من فيهما طوعا وكرها كما قال تعالى "ولله يسجد من في السموات والأرض طوعا وكرها" الآية وقال تعالى "أو لم يروا إلى ما خلق الله من شيء يتفيؤ ظلاله عن اليمين والشمائل سجدا لله وهم داخرون ولله يسجد ما في السموات وما في الأرض من دابة والملائكة وهم لا يستكبرون يخافون ربهم من فوقهم ويفعلون ما يؤمرون" فالمؤمن مستسلم بقلبه وقالبه لله والكافر مستسلم لله كرها فإنه تحت التسخير والقهر والسلطان العظيم الذي لا يخالف ولا يمانع. وقد ورد حديث في تفسير هذه الآية على معنى آخر فيه غرابة فقال الحافظ أبو القاسم الطبراني حدثنا أحمد بن النضر العسكري حدثنا سعيد بن حفص النفيلي حدثنا محمد بن محصن العكاشي حدثنا الأوزاعي عن عطاء بن أبي رباح عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم "وله أسلم من في السموات والأرض طوعا وكرها" "أما من في السموات فالملائكة وأما من في الأرض فمن ولد على الإسلام وأما كرها فمن أتى به من سبايا الأمم في السلاسل والأغلال يقادون إلى الجنة وهم كارهون" وقد ورد في الصحيح" عجب ربك من قوم يقادون إلى الجنة في السلاسل " وسيأتي له شاهد من وجه آخر ولكن المعنى الأول للآية أقوى. وقد قال وكيع في تفسيره: حدثنا سفيان عن منصور عن مجاهد "وله أسلم من في السموات والأرض طوعا وكرها" قال: هو كقوله "ولئن سألتهم من خلق السموات والأرض ليقولن الله" وقال أيضا: حدثنا سفيان عن الأعمش عن مجاهد عن ابن عباس "وله أسلم من في السموات والأرض طوعا وكرها" قال: حين أخذ الميثاق "وإليه يرجعون" أي يوم المعاد فيجازي كلا بعمله.

The Only Valid Religion To Allah is Islam

Allah rebukes those who prefer a religion other than the religion that He sent His Books and Messengers with, which is the worship of Allah Alone without partners, to Whom,

وَلَهُ أَسْلَمَ مَن فِى السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ

(submitted all creatures in the heavens and the earth,) Willingly, or not. Allah said in other Ayat,

وَللَّهِ يَسْجُدُ مَن فِى السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ طَوْعًا وَكَرْهًا

(And unto Allah (Alone) falls in prostration whoever is in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly.) 13:15, and,

أَوَ لَمْيَرَوْاْ إِلَىخَلَقَ اللَّهُ مِن شَىْءٍ يَتَفَيَّأُ ظِلَـلُهُ عَنِ الْيَمِينِ وَالْشَّمَآئِلِ سُجَّدًا لِلَّهِ وَهُمْوَلِلَّهِ يَسْجُدُ مَا فِى السَّمَـوَتِ وَمَا فِى الاٌّرْضِ مِن دَآبَّةٍ وَالْمَلَـئِكَةُ وَهُمْ لاَ يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ يَخَـفُونَ رَبَّهُمْ مِّن فَوْقِهِمْ وَيَفْعَلُونَ مَا يُؤْمَرُونَ

(Have they not observed things that Allah has created: (how) their shadows incline to the right and to the left, making prostration unto Allah, and they are lowly And to Allah prostrate all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth, of the moving creatures and the angels, and they are not proud. They fear their Lord above them, and they do what they are commanded) 16: 48-50.

Therefore, the faithful believer submits to Allah in heart and body, while the disbeliever unwillingly submits to Him in body only, since he is under Allah's power, irresistible control and mighty kingship that cannot be repelled or resisted. Waki` reported that Mujahid said that the Ayah,

وَلَهُ أَسْلَمَ مَن فِى السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ طَوْعًا وَكَرْهًا

(While to Him submitted all creatures in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly), is similar to the Ayah,

وَلَئِن سَأَلْتَهُمْ مَّنْ خَلَقَ السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضَ لَيَقُولُنَّ اللَّهُ

(And verily, if you ask them: "Who created the heavens and the earth" Surely, they will say: "Allah") 39:38.

He also reported that Ibn `Abbas said about,

وَلَهُ أَسْلَمَ مَن فِى السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ طَوْعًا وَكَرْهًا

(while to Him submitted all creatures in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly.)

"When He took the covenant from them."

وَإِلَيْهِ يُرْجَعُونَ

(And to Him shall they all be returned) on the Day of Return, when He will reward or punish each person according to his or her deeds.

Allah then said,

قُلْ ءَامَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَمَآ أُنزِلَ عَلَيْنَا

(Say: "We believe in Allah and in what has been sent down to us) the Qur'an,

وَمَآ أُنزِلَ عَلَى إِبْرَهِيمَ وَإِسْمَـعِيلَ وَإِسْحَـقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ

(and what was sent down to Ibrahim, Ismai`0l, Ishaq, Ya`qub) the scriptures and revelation,

وَالأَسْبَاطَ

(and the Asbat,) the Asbat are the twelve tribes who originated from the twelve children of Israel (Ya`qub).

وَمَا أُوتِىَ مُوسَى وَعِيسَى

(and what was given to Musa, `Isa) the Tawrah and the Injil,

وَالنَّبِيُّونَ مِن رَّبِّهِمْ

(and the Prophets from their Lord.) and this encompasses all of Allah's Prophets.

لاَ نُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ أَحَدٍ مِّنْهُمْ

(We make no distinction between one another among them) we believe in all of them,

وَنَحْنُ لَهُ مُسْلِمُونَ

(And to Him (Allah) we have submitted (in Islam))

Therefore, faithful Muslims believe in every Prophet whom Allah has sent and in every Book He revealed, and never disbelieve in any of them. Rather, they believe in what was revealed by Allah, and in every Prophet sent by Allah. Allah said next,

وَمَن يَبْتَغِ غَيْرَ الإِسْلَـمِ دِينًا فَلَن يُقْبَلَ مِنْهُ

(And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him,) whoever seeks other than what Allah has legislated, it will not be accepted from him,

وَهُوَ فِى الاٌّخِرَةِ مِنَ الْخَـسِرِينَ

(and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers.)

As the Prophet said in an authentic Hadith,

«مَنْ عَمِلَ عَمَلًا لَيْسَ عَلَيْهِ أَمْرُنَا، فَهُوَ رَد»

(Whoever commits an action that does not conform to our matter (religion) then it is rejected).

What! Do they the ones who turn away desire yabghūna is also read tabghūna ‘do you desire?’ other than God’s religion when to Him has submitted to Him has yielded whoever is in the heavens and the earth willingly without refusal or unwillingly by the sword and by seeing what it such refusal results in and to Him they shall be returned? yurja‘ūna may also be read turja‘ūna ‘you shall be returned’; the hamza at the beginning of the verse a-fa-ghayra ‘what…other’ denotes a disavowal.

The infallibility of the Prophets

The verse implies that a person whom Allah invests with the Book, the Wisdom and the power of making decisions, and places him on the great station of prophethood is always faithful to his mission when he communicates the Divine message to people and calls on them to be-come His faithful servants. That he starts moving people away from the worship of only one God and starts asking them to become his own worshippers or the worshippers of some other creatures is something he can never do. If so, this would mean that the one whom Allah had sent as his messenger did not, in fact, deserve this designation. Any government of this world, when appointing someone to an office of responsibility, always takes two factors into consideration:

1. Does the incumbent have the ability to comprehend and execute government policy?

2. How far can he be expected to execute government directives, and to hold its subjects in a stable stance of loyalty? No king or parliament would ever appoint someone as its representative or ambassador about whom there exists the least doubt of indulging in anti-government activity, or deviation from its policy or directives. However, it is possible that the government may have failed to make a correct assessment of a person's ability or loyalty. But with Allah even that element of doubt does not exist. If He knows about a man that he would not over-step the bounds of loyalty and obedience to Him, even in the slightest degree, then it is impossible that he could, later on, prove to be contrary to that assessment. Otherwise, it would mean that Divine knowledge is defective (we seek refuge with Allah! ) Right from here, the question of the ` ismah1 (infallibility) of the prophets, (علیہم السلام) becomes clear. Now that the blessed prophets are free of minor sins, how can the probability of doing shirk (the major sin of associating others with Allah) or making revolt against Allah remain valid?

1.` Ismah' means a special protection given to someone by Allah which makes him refrain from sins. For the purpose of brevity we may translate it as 'infallibility' – editor

In this, there is the necessary refutation of the Christians who claimed that it was Masih (علیہ السلام) who asked them to have belief in his sonship and godhead. Also chastised were the Muslims who had gone to the Holy Prophet . ﷺ trying to find out if it was all right for them to prostrate before him rather than greet him with the usual سلام salam. Also admonished were the people of the Book who had invested their rabbis and monks with the station of God. Refuge with Allah! (Tafsir ` Usmani)

(Seek they other than the religion of Allah�) [3:83]. Said ibn �Abbas: �The people of the two Scriptures [the Jews and the Christians] went to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, to settle a dispute regarding Abraham's religion, for one of these parties claimed that they had the best claim to his religion. The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, said: �None of the parties has anything to do with the religion of Abraham�. But this statement angered both parties. They said: �By Allah, we do not accept your judgement nor are we going to follow your religion!� Allah, exalted is He, then revealed (Seek they other than the religion of Allah�)�.