This statement is similar to the words of Hadrat Ali (as)...

This statement is similar to the words of Hadrat Ali (as) recorded in his testament to his son, Imam Mujtaba (as), who said: “…know, O’ my child, that if there had been a partner with your Lord, his messenger, too, should have come to you and you would have seen signs of his authority and power and you should have known his deeds and qualities.…” [^1] The Arabic word /ummah/, according to Mufradat by Raqib, means any group or nation that a common cause joins them to each other, such as being common in religion and creed, being in the same time or Age, and being in one definite place, whether this unity is optional or non-optional.

Some commentators have considered the phrase: ‘single Ummah’, mentioned here, as ‘a single religion’. Some others have said that the objective meaning of ‘Ummah’, in this verse, is the whole mankind in all ages and times. In this case, it means: O’ human beings! All of you are one Ummah, your Lord is One, and the final destination of all of you is a single destination.

But the most appropriate meaning of all of them is that: this sentence is a hint to the prophets and messengers whose biographies were mentioned in the former verses. Then, in the next holy verse, the Qur’an, pointing to the deviation of a large group of people from this single principle of Monotheism, says: “And they split up their affair among them…” Their affair reached a point that they stood against each other and every group used to curse another group, and repudiated that party.

They did not suffice to that and they made use of weapon against each other and, consequently, many people were killed. And, that was the result of the deviation from the basic principle of monotheism and the religion of the truth.

The Arabic phrase /taqatta‘u/ is derived from the word /qat‘/ which means to separate some pieces of an inter-chained and connected subject; and regarding to the fact that the word in Arabic is in a construction that has been applied in the sense of acceptance, the sentence means: they surrendered in the fact of disunion and hypocrisy, and they accepted separation and alienation from each other.

They put an end to their natural and theistic union and, as a result of it, they encountered those abundant failures, miseries, and wretchedness. So, at the end of the holy verse, it adds: “…(yet, finally,) will they all return unto Us.” This separation, which is not substantial, will be removed and they all will go toward unity again in the Hereafter.