And I follow the ways of my fathers, - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
And I follow the ways of my fathers, - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” [The Holy Qur’an, Yusuf 12:37-38] In another verse we read: مَا سَمِعْنَا بِهَذَا فِي الْمِلَّةِ الْآخِرَةِ إِنْ هَذَا إِلَّا اخْتِلَاقٌ “We never heard (the like) of this among the people of these later days.
This is nothing but a made-up tale!” [The Holy Qur’an, Sad 38:7] It has also been referred to the idol-worshippers: قَدِ افْتَرَيْنَا عَلَى اللّهِ كَذِبًا إِنْ عُدْنَا فِي مِلَّتِكُم بَعْدَ إِذْ نَجَّانَا اللّهُ مِنْهَا “We should indeed invent a lie against God if we returned to your ways after God hath rescued us therefrom…” [The Holy Qur’an, al-A`raaf 7:89] In this chapter, we shall discuss Imam Sajjad’s expression of the rights of the people who have the same religion, or the nation of Islam.
Islam and the Society Islam considers man as a social creature whose development is subject to social development. We can easily understand this in the way God addresses groups of people in the Qur’an. In the following verse, God addresses the people to follow the straight path: وَأَنَّ هَـذَا صِرَاطِي مُسْتَقِيمًا فَاتَّبِعُوهُ وَلاَ تَتَّبِعُواْ السُّبُلَ فَتَفَرَّقَ بِكُمْ عَن سَبِيلِهِ ذَلِكُمْ وَصَّاكُم بِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ “Verily this is My way, leading straight. Follow it.
Follow not (other) paths. They will scatter you about from His (great) Path. Thus doth He command you that ye may be righteous.” [The Holy Qur’an, al-Anam 6:153] In another verse, God invites the people who were enemies before to be united as brothers: وَاعْتَصِمُواْ بِحَبْلِ اللّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلاَ تَفَرَّقُواْ وَاذْكُرُواْ نِعْمَتَ اللّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ كُنتُمْ أَعْدَاء فَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِكُمْ فَأَصْبَحْتُم بِنِعْمَتِهِ إِخْوَانًا “And hold fast, all together, by the Rope which God (stretches out for you), and be not divided among yourselves, and remember with gratitude God’s favor on you for ye were enemies and He joined your hearts in love, so that by His Grace, ye become brethren …” [The Holy Qur’an, Al-i-Imran 3:103] Others are surprised about this event.
John Davenporth, the well-known British scholar wrote: “Muhammad who was a simple Arab was able to unite the small, hungry and naked tribes which were all scattered about into a disciplined and united nation by introducing to them such new ethics and characteristics that did not exist in other nations. He could overthrow the Constantinople Empire and the Persian kingdom in less than thirty years.
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